OUR  EUROPEAN 
NEIGHBOURS 

EDITED  BY 

WILLIAM  HARBUTT  DAWSON 


SPANISH  LIFE  IN  TOWN  AND 
COUNTRY 


Spanish  Life  in  Town  and 
Country 


BY 

L  HIGGIN 

With  Chapters  on 

Portuguese  Life  in  Town  and  Country 

BY 

EUGENE  E.  STREET 


PUBLISHED  FOR  THE 

BAY  VIEW   READING    CLUB 

GENERAL  OFFICE  :  165  BOSTON  BOULEVARD 
DETROIT,  MICH. 

BY  G.   P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 
NEW  YORK  LONDON 


COPYRIGHT,  igoa 

•  BV 
G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 


Published,  May,  igoa 
Reprinted,  February,  1903 
May,  1904 ;  September,  1904 


•ffbe  fmicfterboclier  tf>re»8,  Hew  Jflorfc 


NOTE  BY  THE  EDITOR 

IT  has  been  thought  well  to  include  Portugal  in  this 
volume,  so  as  to  embrace  the  entire  Iberian  Peninsula. 
Though  geographically  contiguous,  and  so  closely  asso- 
ciated in  the  popular  mind,  the  Spanish  and  Portuguese 
nations  offer  in  fact  the  most  striking  divergences  alike 
in  character  and  institutions,  and  separate  treatment  was 
essential  in  justice  to  each  country.  The  preferential 
attention  given  to  Spain  is  only  in  keeping  with  the 
more  prominent  part  she  has  played,  and  may  yet  play, 
in  the  history  of  civilisation. 


I  AM  indebted  for  the  chapters  on  Portugal  to  Mr. 
Eugene  E.  Street,  whose  long  and  intimate  acquaintance 
with  the  land  and  its  people  renders  him  peculiarly 
fitted  to  draw  their  picture. 

I».HIGGIN. 


CONTENTS 
SPANISH  LIFE 

CHAPTER  I  PAOE 

LAND  AND  PEOPLE i 

CHAPTER  II 
TYPES  AND  TRAITS 24 

CHAPTER  III 
NATIONAL  CHARACTERISTICS 38 

CHAPTER  IV 
SPANISH  SOCIETY 55 

CHAPTER  V 
MODERN  MADRID 77 

CHAPTER  VI 
THE  COURT 97 

CHAPTER  VII 
POPULAR  AMUSEMENTS in 

CHAPTER  VIII 
THE  PRESS  AND  ITS  LEADERS        .       .       .       .129 

CHAPTER  IX 

POLITICAL  GOVERNMENT 142 

vu 


viii  Contents 

CHAPTER  X 
COMMERCE  AND  AGRICULTURE       ....    156 

CHAPTER  XI 
THE  ARMY  AND  NAVY 183 

CHAPTER  XII 
RELIGIOUS  LIFE 198 

CHAPTER  XIII 
EDUCATION  AND  THE  PRIESTHOOD    '  .        .213 

CHAPTER  XIV 

PHILANTHROPY  —  POSITION   OF   WOMEN  —  MAR- 
RIAGE CUSTOMS 226 

CHAPTER  XV 
Music,  ART,  AND  THE  DRAMA       ....    236 

CHAPTER  XVI 
MODERN  LITERATURE 246 

CHAPTER  XVII 
THE  FUTURE  OF  SPAIN    ......    260 

PORTUGUESE  LIPE 

CHAPTER  XVIII 
LAND  AND  PEOPLE 277 

CHAPTER  XIX 
PORTUGUESE  INSTITUTIONS 298 

INDEX .       .      .    315 


INTRODUCTORY 

SECOND  AND  ENLARGED  EDITION 

MR.  HIGGIN  has  presented  in  this  volume 
graceful  and  picturesque  sketches  showing 
the  life  of  to-day  in  a  country  which  during  a 
century  or  more  has  been  struggling  upward  out 
of  the  abyss  into  which  it  had  been  sunk  by 
despotism,  bigotry,  and  bad  government.  During 
the  later  years,  under  more  enlightened  rulers, 
many  important  reforms,  social,  educational,  and 
administrative,  have  been  undertaken,  and  wise 
and  far-reaching  plans  of  regeneration  are  in  train 
for  the  furthering  of  the  welfare  of  a  people  which, 
while  submissive  and  loyal,  is  apathetic  and  igno- 
rant. The  present  rulers  of  Spain  take  the  ground 
that  orderly  liberty  must  follow,  and  not  precede, 
enlightenment. 

It  is  the  misfortune  of  Spain  that  the  sceptre  of 
Charles  III.  passed  into  the  hands  of  an  amia- 
ble fool  at  a  most  critical  period  of  modern  times, 
when  half  civilisation  was  crazy  with  the  new 
conviction  that  the  face  of  society,  and  even  the 
laws  of  nature,  could  be  suddenly  altered  by 
changes  in  the  form  of  governments.  In  England 
xi 


xii  Introduction 

this  belief  was  modified  by  the  stolid  good  sense 
of  the  race,  loyalty  to  the  throne,  and  the  elas- 
ticity of  the  constitution  under  which  we  lived  ; 
in  France  it  was  turned  to  his  own  advantage  by 
one  of  the  greatest  geniuses  and  most  unscrupu- 
lous men  the  world  ever  saw,  and  has  resulted  in 
a  successful  democracy  which  at  intervals  cries 
for  a  despot  to  save  it  from  itself ;  whilst  in  Spain, 
where  the  throne  had  forfeited  right  to  respect, 
where  there  was  no  constitution  to  be  elastic,  and 
no  genius  to  rescue  society  from  anarchy  by  new 
developments  of  despotism,  the  people  themselves 
have  painfully  worked  out,  so  far,  their  own  sal- 
vation at  the  cost  of  a  century  of  conflict  and 
misery  untold. 

Again  and  again  during  the  period,  political 
empirics  have  prescribed  rapid  remedies  for  a 
chronic  disease,  always  with  the  result  that  a 
crisis  has  been  provoked  which  has  further  re- 
tarded the  progress  of  the  patient.  False  guides 
have  betrayed  the  people  from  the  straight  up- 
ward path  through  short  cuts  into  quagmires,  or 
to  the  edge  of  the  precipice  ;  at  every  level  rest- 
ing-place the  leaders  have  declared  loudly  that 
the  summit  has  been  attained,  and  in  eloquent 
orations  have  called  upon  their  followers,  and  the 
world  at  large,  to  witness  and  admire  their  clever- 
ness in  having  reached  it  with  so  little  labour. 
Every  transient  gleam  of  their  own  poor  rushlight 
has  been  hailed  in  resounding  phrases  as  the 
bright  sunshine  which  was  to  be  the  final  goal. 


Introduction  xiii 

The  people  in  the  meanwhile,  inexperienced  in 
the  phenomena  of  progress,  have  readily  taken 
flowing  oratory  for  noble  deeds,  and  flickering 
candles  for  the  day's  effulgence  ;  only  to  give  way 
to  bitter  disappointment  and  paroxysms  of  rage 
when  they  have  learnt  the  truth,  and  have  been 
forced  to  toil  upward  again  still  in  the  twilight. 

But,  withal,  the  road  has  led  them  higher.  The 
squabbles  and  corruptions  of  politicians,  the  folly 
and  blindness  of  those  who  sat  in  high  places, 
have  done  their  worst ;  but  those  who  have 
patience  to  read  to  the  end  the  story  here  told 
will  see  that  in  the  course  of  the  century  the 
Spanish  nation,  in  spite  of  all,  has  advanced,  and 
is  still  advancing,  though  slowly,  towards  the 
material  prosperity  and  enlightened  freedom 
which  is  the  right  of  all  civilised  peoples. 

I  may  fairly  claim  to  possess  some  special  qual- 
ifications for  relating  many  of  the  incidents  set 
forth  in  this  history.  In  my  youth  I  have  list- 
ened open-eyed  for  hours  to  the  tales  of  aged 
relatives  and  their  friends  who  had  borne  active 
part  in  the  great  struggle  early  in  the  century. 
Some  of  them  had  been  friends  of  Godoy,  some 
of  them  companions  in  arms  of  Wellington  and 
Hill ;  and  from  the  mouth  of  one  I  learnt  the 
tragic  story  of  the  massacre  of  the  26.  of  May,  at 
which  he  had  been  present.  The  same  aged  gen- 
tleman and  his  brother,  near  relatives  of  my  own, 
were  amongst  the  victims  of  the  despotism  of 
Fernando,  and  expiated  in  prison  and  in  exile 


xiv  Introduction 

their  adhesion  to  the  cause  of  the  Constitution. 
From  them,  many  a  time  and  oft,  have  I  heard 
on  the  spot  the  story  of  the  battle  of  the  Consti- 
tution in  the  Calle  Mayor  of  Madrid  on  the  yth 
of  July,  1822,  and  of  the  storming  of  the  palace 
stairs  by  Diego  de  Leon  in  1841  to  capture  the 
young  Queen  Isabel.  At  a  later  period  my  own 
observation  commenced,  and  as  a  keenly  in- 
terested spectator  and  friend  of  many  of  the  chief 
actors  I  witnessed  most  of  the  stirring  scenes  re- 
counted in  these  pages,  from  the  revolution  of 
1868  up  to  the  death  of  Alfonso  XII. ,  since  when 
I  have  never  ceased  to  follow  closely  the  incidents 
of  the  contemporary  history  of  Spain. 

In  a  work  containing  so  many  details,  I  cannot 
hope  to  have  escaped  errors,  but  I  may  claim  that 
I  have  done  my  best  to  avoid  them  ;  and  I  have 
been  careful  to  confirm  my  memory  of  the  events 
I  have  witnessed,  and  of  descriptions  given  to  me 
by  actors  in  earlier  scenes,  by  comparison  with 
other  contemporary  accounts. 


SPANISH  LIFE  IN  TOWN  AND 
COUNTRY 


SPANISH  LIFE  IN  TOWN 
AND  COUNTRY 


CHAPTER  I 

LAND   AND   PEOPLE 

ONLY  in  comparatively  late  years  has  the 
Iberian  Continent  been  added  to  the  happy 
hunting-grounds  of  the  ordinary  British  and 
American  tourist,  and  somewhat  of  a  check  arose 
after  the  outbreak  of  the  war  with  America.  To 
the  other  wonderful  legends  which  gather  round 
this  romantic  country,  and  are  spread  abroad, 
unabashed  and  uncontradicted,  was  added  one 
more,  to  the  effect  that  so  strong  a  feeling  existed 
on  the  part  of  the  populace  against  Americans, 
that  it  was  unsafe  for  English-speaking  visitors 
to  travel  there.  Nothing  is  farther  from  the 
truth;  there  is  no  hatred  of  American  or  English, 
and,  if  there  had  been,  they  little  know  the 
innate  courtesy  of  the  Spanish  people,  who  fear 


2  Spanish  Life 

insult  that  is  not  due  to  the  overbearing  manners 
of  the  tourist  himself. 

To-day,  however,  everyone  is  going  to  Spain, 
and  as  the  number  of  travellers  increases,  so,  per- 
haps, does  the  real  ignorance  of  the  country  and 
of  her  people  become  more  apparent,  for,  after  a 
few  days,  or  at  most  weeks,  spent  there,  those  who 
seem  to  imagine  that  they  have  discovered  Spain, 
as  Columbus  discovered  America,  deliver  their 
judgment  upon  her  with  all  the  audacity  of  igno- 
rance, or,  at  best,  with  very  imperfect  informa- 
tion and  capacity  for  forming  an  opinion. 

For  many  years,  the  foreign  element  in  Spain 
was  so  small  that  all  who  made  their  home  in  the 
country  were  known  and  easily  counted,  while 
those  who  travelled  were,  for  the  most  part,  culti- 
vated people — artists,  or  lovers  of  art,  or  persons 
interested  in  some  way  in  the  commercial  or  in- 
dustrial progress  of  the  nation.  Even  in  those 
days,  however,  too  many  tourists  spent  their  time 
amongst  the  dead  cities,  remnants  of  Spain's  great 
past,  and  came  back  to  add  their  quota  to  the 
sentimental  notions  current  about  the  romantic 
land  sung  by  Byron.  Wrapped  in  a  glamour  for 
which  their  own  enthusiasm  was  mainly  respon- 
sible, they  beheld  all  things  coloured  with  the 
rich  glow  of  a  resplendent  sunset;  their  descrip- 
tions of  people  and  places  raised  expectations  too 
often  cruelly  dispelled  by  facts,  as  presented  to 
those  of  less  exuberant  imaginations. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  mere  British  traveller, 


Land  and  People 


knowing  nothing  of  art,  almost  nothing  of  his- 
tory, and  very  little  of  anything  beyond  his  own 
provincial  parish,  finds  all  that  is  not  the  com- 
monplace of  his  own  country,  barbarous  and 
utterly  beneath  contempt.  His  own  manners, 
not  generally  of  the  best,  set  all  that  is  proud  and 
dignified  in  the  lowest  Spaniard  in  revolt;  he  im- 
agines that  he  meets  with  discourtesy  where,  in 
fact,  he  has  gone  out  to  seek  it,  and  his  own 
ignorance  is  chiefly  to  blame  for  his  failure  to 
understand  a  people  wholly  unlike  his  own  class 
associates  at  home.  He,  too,  returns,  shaking 
the  dust  off  his  feet,  to  draw  a  picture  of  the  land 
he  has  left,  as  false  and  misleading  as  that  of  the 
dreamer  who  has  overloaded  his  picture  with 
colour  that  does  not  exist  for  the  ordinary  tourist. 
Thus  it  too  often  comes  to  pass  that  visitors  to 
Spain  experience  keen  disappointment  during 
their  short  stay  in  the  country.  Whether  they 
always  acknowledge  it  or  not,  is  another  question. 
To  hit  the  happy  medium,  and  to  draw  from  a 
tour  in  Spain,  or  from  a  more  prolonged  sojourn 
there,  all  the  pleasure  that  may  be  derived  from 
it,  and  to  feel  with  those  who,  knowing  the 
country  and  its  people  intimately,  love  it  dearly, 
a  remembrance  of  its  past  history  and  of  its 
strange  agglomeration  of  nationalities  is  abso- 
lutely necessary ;  nor  can  any  true  idea  be  formed 
of  the  country  from  a  mere  acquaintance  with  any 
one  of  its  widely  differing  provinces.  Galicia 
is,  even  to-day,  more  nearly  allied  to  Portugal 


4  Spanish  Life 

than  to  Spain,  and  it  was  only  in  1668  that  the 
independence  of  the  former  was  acknowledged, 
and  it  became  a  separate  kingdom. 

With  all  rights  now  equalised,  the  inhabitants 
of  the  remaining  provinces  of  Spain  differ  as 
widely  from  one  another  as  they  do  from  the  sis- 
ter kingdom,  while  the  folklore  of  Asturias  and 
of  the  Basque  Provinces  is  very  closely  allied  with 
that  of  Portugal.  To  judge  the  Biscayan  by  the 
same  standard  as  the  Andaluz,  is  as  sensible  as  it 
would  be  to  compare  the  Irish  squatter  with  Corn- 
ish fisher-folk,  or  the  peasants  of  Wilts  and  Surrey 
with  the  Celtic  races  of  the  West  Highlands  of 
Scotland,  or  even  with  the  people  of  Lancashire 
or  Yorkshire. 

Nor  is  it  possible  to  speak  of  Spain  as  a  whole, 
and  of  what  she  is  likely  to  make  of  the  present 
impulse  towards  national  growth  and  industrial 
prosperity,  without  remembering  that  her  popu- 
lation counts,  among  its  rapidly  increasing  num- 
bers, the  far-seeing  and  business-like,  if  somewhat 
selfish,  Catalan,  with  a  language  of  his  own;  the 
dreamy,  pleasure-loving  Andaluz;  the  vigorous 
Basque,  whose  distinctive  language  is  not  to 
be  learned  or  understood  by  the  people  of  any 
other  part  of  Spain;  the  half-Moorish  Valencian 
and  the  self-respecting  Aragonese,  who  have  al- 
ways made  their  mark  in  the  history  of  their 
country,  and  were  looked  upon  as  a  foreign  ele- 
ment in  the  days  when  their  kingdom  and  that  of 
Leon  were  united,  under  one  crown,  with  Castile. 


Land  and  People  5 

It  was  only  after  Alfonso  XII.  had  stamped  out 
the  last  Carlist  war  that  the  ancient  fueros,  or 
special  rights,  of  the  Basque  Provinces  became  a 
thing  of  the.  past,  and  their  people  liable  to  con- 
scription, on  a  par  with  all  the  other  parts  of 
Spain. 

Every  student  of  history  knows  that  the  era  of 
Spain's  greatness  was  that  of  Los  Reyes  Catolicos, 
Isabella  of  Castile  and  Ferdinand  of  Aragon,  when 
the  wonderful  discovery  and  opening  up  of  a  new 
world  made  her  people  dizzy  with  excitement,  and 
seemed  to  promise  steadily  increasing  power  and 
influence.  Everyone  knows  that  these  dreams 
were  never  realised;  that,  so  far  from  remaining 
the  greatest  nation  of  the  Western  World,  Spain 
has  gradually  sunk  back  into  a  condition  that 
leaves  her  to-day  outside  of  international  politics; 
and  that,  with  the  loss  of  her  last  colonies  over- 
seas, she  appears  to  the  superficial  observer  to  be 
a  dead  or  dying  nation,  no  longer  of  any  account 
among  the  peoples  of  Europe. 

But  this  is  no  fact;  it  is  rather  the  baseless 
fancy  of  incompetent  observers,  to  some  extent 
acquiesced  in,  or  at  least  not  contradicted,  by  the 
proud  Castilian,  who  cares  not  at  all  about  the 
opinions  of  other  nationalities,  and  who  never 
takes  the  trouble  to  enlighten  ignorance  of  the 
kind.  True,  there  was  an  exhibition  of  some- 
thing like  popular  indignation  when  the  people 
fancied  they  discovered  a  reference  to  Spain  in 
the  utterances  of  two  leading  English  statesmen, 


6  Spanish  Life 

during  the  war  with  America,  and  the  feeling 
of  soreness  against  England  still  to  some  extent 
exists;  in  fact,  strange  as  it  may  appear,  there  is 
far  less  anger  against  America,  which  deprived 
Spain  of  her  colonies,  than  against  England, 
which  looked  on  complacently,  and  with  obvious 
sympathy  for  the  aggressor.  But  all  this  is  past, 
or  passing.  The  Spaniards  are  a  generous  people, 
and  no  one  forgets  or  forgives  more  easily  or  more 
entirely.  Those  who  knew  Madrid  in  the  days 
of  Isabel  II.  would  not  have  imagined  it  possible 
that  the  Queen,  who  had  been  banished  with  so 
much  general  rejoicing,  could,  under  any  circum- 
stances, have  received  in  the  capital  a  warm 
greeting;  in  fact,  it  was  for  long  thought  inex- 
pedient to  allow  her  to  risk  a  popular  demonstra- 
tion of  quite  another  character.  But  when  she 
came  to  visit  her  son,  after  the  restoration  of 
Alfonso  XII.,  her  sins,  which  were  many,  were 
forgiven  her.  It  was,  perhaps,  remembered  that 
in  her  youth  she  had  been  more  sinned  against 
than  sinning;  that  she  was  muy  Espa nola,  kind- 
hearted  and  gracious  in  manner,  pitiful  and 
courteous  to  all.  Hence,  so  long  as  she  did  not 
remain,  and  did  not  in  any  way  interfere  in  the 
government,  the  people  were  ready  to  receive  her 
with  acclamation,  and  were  probably  really  glad 
to  see  her  again  without  her  camarilla,  and  with 
no  power  to  injure  the  new  order  of  things. 

No  nation  in  the  world  is  more  innately  demo- 
cratic than  Spain — none,  perhaps,  so  attached  to 


Land  and  People  7 

monarchy  ;  but  one  lesson  has  been  learned, 
probably  alike  by  King  and  people — that  abso- 
lutism is  dead  and  buried  beyond  recall.  The 
ruler  of  Spain,  to-day  and  in  the  future,  must 
represent  the  wishes  of  the  people;  and  if  at  any 
time  the  two  should  once  more  come  into  sharp 
collision,  it  is  not  the  united  people  of  this  once- 
divided  country  that  would  give  way.  For  the 
rest,  so  long  as  the  monarch  reigns  constitution- 
ally, and  respects  the  rights  and  the  desires  of  his 
people,  there  is  absolutely  nothing  to  fear  from 
pretender  or  republican.  At  a  recent  political 
meeting  in  Madrid,  for  the  first  time,  were  seen 
democrats,  republicans,  and  monarchists  united; 
amidst  a  goodly  quantity  of  somewhat  "tall" 
talk,  two  notable  remarks  were  received  with 
acclamation  by  all  parties:  one  was  that  Italy  had 
found  freedom,  and  had  made  herself  into  a  united 
nationality,  under  a  constitutional  monarch;  and 
the  other,  that  between  the  Government  of  Eng- 
land and  a  republic  there  was  no  difference  ex- 
cept in  name — that  in  all  Europe  there  was  no 
country  so  democratic  or  so  absolutely  free  as 
England  under  her  King,  nor  one  in  which  the 
people  so  entirely  governed  themselves. 

Among  the  many  mistaken  ideas  which  obtain 
currency  in  England  with  regard  to  Spain,  per- 
haps none  is  more  common  or  more  baseless  than 
the  fiction  about  Don  Carlos  and  his  chances  of 
success.  A  certain  small  class  of  journalists  from 
time  to  time  write  ridiculous  articles  in  English 


8  Spanish  Life 

papers  and  magazines  about  what  they  are  pleased 
to  call  the  ' '  legitimatist ' '  cause,  and  announce  its 
coming  triumph  in  the  Peninsula.  No  Spaniard 
takes  the  trouble  to  notice  these  remarkable  pro- 
ductions of  the  fertile  journalistic  brain  of  a  for- 
eigner. There  are  still,  of  course,  people  calling 
themselves  Carlists — notably  the  Duke  of  Madrid 
and  Don  Jaime,  but  the  cult,  such  as  there  is  of 
it  in  Spain,  is  of  the  "  Platonic  "  order  only, — to 
use  the  Spanish  description  of  it,  "a  little  talk 
but  no  fight," — and  it  may  be  classed  with  the 
vagaries  of  the  amiable  people  in  England  who 
amuse  themselves  by  wearing  a  white  rose,  and 
also  call  themselves  ' '  legitimatists, ' '  praying  for 
the  restoration  of  the  Stuarts. 

The  truth  about  the  Carlist  pretension  is  so 
little  known  in  England  that  it  may  be  well  to 
state  it.  Spain  has  never  been  a  land  of  the 
Salic  I^aw;  the  story  of  her  reigning  queens — 
chief  of  all,  Isabel  la  Catolica,  shows  this.  It 
was  not  until  the  time  of  Philip  V.,  the  first  of 
the  Bourbons,  that  this  absolute  monarch  limited 
the  succession  to  heirs  male  by  "  pragmatic  sanc- 
tion"; that  is  to  say,  by  his  own  unsupported 
order.  The  Act  in  itself  was  irregular;  it  was 
never  put  before  the  Cortes,  and  the  Council  of 
Castile  protested  against  it  at  the  time. 

This  Act,  such  as  it  was,  was  revoked  by 
Charles  IV. ;  but  the  revocation  was  never  pub- 
lished, the  birth  of  sons  making  it  immaterial. 
When,  however,  his  son  Ferdinand  VII.  was 


Land  and  People  9 

near  his  end,  leaving  only  two  daughters,  he 
published  his  father's  revocation  of  the  Act  of 
Philip  V.,  and  appointed  his  wife,  Cristina,  Re- 
gent during  the  minority  of  Isabel  II.,  then  only 
three  years  of  age. 

At  no  time,  then,  in  its  history,  has  the  Salic 
Law  been  in  use  in  Spain:  the  irregular  act  of  a 
despotic  King  was  repudiated  both  by  his  grand- 
son and  his  great-grandson.  Nothing,  therefore, 
can  be  more  ridiculous  than  the  pretension  of 
legitimacy  on  the  part  of  a  pretender  whose  party 
simply  attempts  to  make  an  illegal  innovation,  in 
defiance  of  the  legitimate  kings  and  of  the  Coun- 
cil of  Castile,  a  fundamental  law  of  the  monarchy. 
Carlism,  the  party  of  the  Church  against  the 
nation,  came  into  existence  when,  during  the  first 
years  of  Cristina's  Regency,  Mendizabal,  the  pa- 
triotic merchant  of  Cadiz  and  Condon,  then  First 
Minister  of  the  Crown,  carried  out  the  dismem- 
berment of  the  religious  orders,  and  the  diversion 
of  their  enormous  wealth  to  the  use  of  the  nation. 
Don  Carlos,  the  brother  of  Ferdinand  VII., 
thereupon  declared  himself  the  Defender  of  the 
Faith  and  the  champion  of  the  extreme  clerical 
party.  Hinc  ilia  lachryma,  and  two  Carlist  wars ! 

The  position  of  the  Church,  or  rather  what  was 
called  the  "  Apostolic  party,"  is  intelligible 
enough,  and  it  is  easy  also  to  understand  why 
Carlism  has  been  preached  as  a  crusade  to  English 
Roman  Catholics,  who  have  been  induced  in  both 
Carlist  wars  to  provide  the  main  part  of  the  funds 


io  Spanish  Life 

which  made  them  possible ;  but  to  call  Doii  Carlos 
"  the  legitimate  King  "  is  an  absurd  misnomer. 

For  the  rest,  as  regards  Spain  herself  and  the 
wishes  of  her  people,  it  is  perhaps  enough  to  re- 
mark that  if,  after  the  expulsion  of  the  Bourbons 
in  1868,  at  the  time  of  the  Revolution  known  as 
"  La  Gloriosa,"  when  Prim  had  refused  to  think 
of  a  republic  and  declared  himself  once  and 
always  in  favour  of  a  monarchy,  and  the  Crown 
of  proud  Spain  went  a-begging  among  the  Courts 
of  Europe, — if,  at  that  time  of  her  national  need, 
Don  Carlos  was  unable  to  come  forward  in  his 
celebrated  character  of  "  legitimate  Sovereign  of 
the  Spanish  people,"  or  to  raise  even  two  or  three 
voices  in  his  favour,  what  chance  is  he  likely  to 
have  with  a  settled  constitutional  Government 
and  the  really  legitimate  Monarch  on  the  throne  ? 
The  strongest  chance  he  ever  had  of  success  was 
when  the  Basque  Provinces  were  at  one  time  dis- 
posed, it  is  said  almost  to  a  man,  to  take  his  side; 
but,  in  fact,  the  men  of  the  mountain  were  fight- 
ing much  more  for  the  retention  of  their  own 
fueros  —  for  their  immunity  from  conscription, 
among  others — than  for  any  love  of  Don  Carlos 
himself.  They  would  have  liked  a  king  and  a 
little  kingdom  all  of  their  own>  and,  above  all,  to 
have  held  their  beloved  rights  against  all  the  rest 
of  Spain. 

All  that,  however,  is  over  now.  In  all  Spain 
no  province  has  profited  as  have  those  of  the 
North  by  the  settled  advance  of  the  country. 


Land  and  People  n 

Bilbao,  once  a  small  trading  town,  twice  devas- 
tated during  the  terrible  civil  wars,  has  forged 
ahead  in  a  manner  perhaps  only  equalled  by 
Liverpool  in  the  days  of  its  first  growth,  and  is 
now  more  important  and  more  populous  than 
Barcelona  itself;  with  its  charming  outlet  of 
Portugalete,  it  is  the  most  flourishing  of  Spanish 
ports,  and  is  able  to  compare  with  any  in  Europe 
for  its  commerce  and  its  rapid  growth.  Viscaya 
and  Asturias  want  no  more  civil  war,  and  the 
Apostolic  party  may  look  in  vain  for  any  more 
Carlist  risings.  More  to  be  feared  now  are  labour 
troubles,  or  the  contamination  of  foreign  anarchist 
doctrines;  but  in  this  case,  the  Church  and  the 
nation  would  be  on  the  same  side — that  of  order 
and  progress. 

In  attempting  to  understand  the  extremely  com- 
plex character  of  the  Spaniard  as  we  know  him, — 
that  is  to  say,  the  Castilian,  or  rather  the  Madri- 
leno, — one  has  to  take  into  account  not  only  the 
divers  races  which  go  to  make  up  the  nationality 
as  it  is  to-day,  but  something  of  the  past  history 
of  this  strangely  interesting  people.  To  go  back 
to  the  days  when  Spain  was  a  Roman  province 
in  a  high  state  of  civilisation :  some  of  the  greatest 
Romans  known  to  fame  were  Spaniards — Quintil- 
ian,  Martial,  L,ucan,  and  the  two  Senecas.  Tra- 
jan was  the  first  Spaniard  named  Emperor,  and 
the  only  one  whose  ashes  were  allowed  to  rest 
within  the  city  walls;  but  the  Spanish  freedman 
of  Augustus,  Gaius  Julius  Hyginus,  had  been 


12  Spanish  Life 

made  the  chief  keeper  of  the  Palatine  Library, 
and  Ballus,  another  Spaniard,  had  reached  the 
consulship,  and  had  been  accorded  the  honour  of  a 
public  triumph.  Hadrian,  again,  was  a  Spaniard, 
and  Marcus  Aurelius  a  son  of  Cordoba.  No 
wonder  that  Spain  is  proud  to  remember  that,  of 
the  "  eighty  perfect  golden  years  "  which  Gibbon 
declares  to  have  been  the  happiest  epoch  in  man- 
kind's history,  no  less  than  sixty  were  passed 
beneath  the  sceptre  of  her  Caesars. 

The  conquered  had  become  conquerors;  the 
intermarriage  of  Roman  soldiers  and  settlers  with 
Spanish  women  modified  the  original  race;  the 
Iberians  invaded  the  politics  and  the  literature  of 
their  conquerors.  St.  Augustine  mourned  the 
odiosa  cantio  of  Spanish  children  learning  Latin, 
but  the  language  of  Rome  itself  was  altered  by  its 
Iberian  emperors  and  literati;  the  races,  in  fact, 
amalgamated,  and  the  Spaniard  of  to-day,  to  those 
who  know  him  well,  bears  a  strange  resemblance 
to  the  Roman  citizens  with  whom  the  letters  of 
the  Younger  Pliny  so  charmingly  make  us  fa- 
miliar. The  dismemberment  of  the  Roman  Em- 
pire left  Spain  exposed  to  the  inroads  of  the 
Northern  barbarians,  and  led  indirectly  to  the 
subsequent  Moorish  inrush;  for  the  Jews,  harassed 
by  a  severe  penal  code,  hailed  the  Arabs  as  a 
kindred  race;  and  with  their  slaves  made  common 
cause  with  the  conquering  hordes. 

The  Goths  seem  to  have  been  little  more  than 
armed  settlers  in  the  country.  Marriage  between 


Land  and  People  13 

them  and  the  Iberians  was  forbidden  by  their 
laws,  and  the  traces  of  their  occupation  are  singu- 
larly few:  not  a  single  inscription  or  book  of 
Gothic  origin  remains,  and  it  seems  doubtful  if 
any  trace  of  the  language  can  be  found  in  Cas- 
tilian  or  any  of  its  dialects.  It  is  strange,  if  this 
be  true,  that  there  should  be  so  strong  a  belief  in 
the  influence  of  Gothic  blood  in  the  race. 

In  all  these  wars  and  rumours  of  war  the  men 
of  the  hardy  North  remained  practically  uncou- 
quered.  The  last  to  submit  to  the  Roman,  the  first 
to  throw  off  the  yoke  of  the  Moor,  the  Basques 
and  Asturians  appear  to  be  the  representatives  of 
the  old  inhabitants  of  Spain,  who  never  settled 
down  under  the  sway  of  the  invader  or  acquiesced 
in  foreign  rule.  Cicero  mentions  a  Spanish  tongue 
which  was  unintelligible  to  the  Romans;  was  this 
Basque,  which  is  equally  so  now  to  the  rest  of 
Spain,  and  which,  if  you  believe  the  modern  Cas- 
tilian,  the  devil  himself  has  never  been  able  to 
master  ? 

The  history  of  Spain  is  one  to  make  the  heart 
ache.  Some  evil  influence,  some  malign  destiny, 
seems  ever  to  have  brought  disaster  where  her 
people  looked  for  progress  or  happiness.  Her 
golden  age  was  just  in  the  short  epoch  when  Isa- 
bella of  Castile  and  Ferdinand  of  Aragon  reigned 
and  ruled  over  the  united  kingdoms:  both  were 
patriotic,  both  clever,  and  absolutely  at  one  in 
their  policy.  It  is  almost  impossible  to  us  who 
can  look  back  on  the  long  records,  almost  always 


14  Spanish  Life 

sad  and  disastrous,  not  to  doubt  whether  in  giving 
a  new  world  "  to  Castile  and  Aragon,"  Cristobal 
Colon  did  not  impose  a  burden  on  the  country  of 
his  adoption  which  she  was  unable  to  bear,  and 
which  became,  in  the  hands  of  the  successors  of 
her  muy  Espanoles  y  muy  Catolicos  kings,  a  cnrse 
instead  of  a  blessing.  Certain  it  is  that  Spain 
was  not  sufficiently  advanced  in  political  economy 
to  understand  or  cope  with  the  enormous  changes 
which  this  opening  up  of  a  new  world  brought 
about.  The  sudden  increase  of  wealth  without 
labour,  of  reward  for  mere  adventure,  slew  in  its 
infancy  any  impulse  there  might  have  been  to 
carry  on  the  splendid  manufactures  and  enlight- 
ened agriculture  of  the  Moors;  trade  became  a 
disgrace,  and  the  fallacious  idea  that  bringing 
gold  and  silver  into  a  country  could  make  it  rich 
and  prosperous  ate  like  a  canker  into  the  indus- 
trial heart  of  the  people,  and  with  absolute  cer- 
tainty threw  them  backward  in  the  race  of 
civilisation. 

Charles  V.  was  the  first  evil  genius  of  Spain ; 
thinking  far  more  of  his  German  and  Italian  pos- 
sessions than  of  the  country  of  his  mother,  poor 
mad  Juana,  he  exhausted  the  resources  of  Spain 
in  his  endless  wars  outside  the  country,  and  in- 
augurated her  actual  decline  at  a  moment  when, 
to  the  unthinking,  she  was  at  the  height  of  her 
glory.  The  influence  of  the  powerful  nobility  of 
the  country  had  been  completely  broken  by  Isa- 
bella and  Ferdinand,  and  the  device  of  adopting 


Land  and  People  15 

the  Burgundian  fashion  of  keeping  at  the  Court 
an  immense  crowd  of  nobles  in  so-called  ' '  wait- 
ing" on  the  Monarch  flattered  the  national  van- 
ity, while  it  ensured  the  absolute  inefficacy  of  the 
class  when  it  might  have  been  useful  in  stemming 
the  baneful  absolutism  of  such  lunatics  as  Felipe 
II.  and  the  following  Austrian  monarchs,  each 
becoming  more  and  more  effete  and  more  and 
more  mad.  The  very  doubtful  ' '  glory ' '  of  the 
reign  of  the  Catholic  Kings  in  having  driven  out 
the  Moors  after  eight  centuries  of  conflict  and 
effort,  proved, in  fact,  no  advantage  to  the  country ; 
but  twenty  thousand  Christian  captives  were  freed, 
and  every  reader  of  history  must,  for  the  moment, 
sympathise  with  the  people  who  effected  this  free- 
ing of  their  country  from  a  foreign  yoke. 

IvOoking  at  the  marvellous  tracery  of  the  church 
of  San  Juan  de  los  Reyes  at  Toledo,  picked  out  by 
the  actual  chains  broken  off  the  miserable  Chris- 
tian captives,  and  hanging  there  unrusted  in  the 
fine  air  and  sunshine  of  the  country  for  over  four 
hundred  years,  one's  heart  beats  in  sympathy 
with  the  pride  of  the  Spaniards  in  their  Catholic 
Kings.  But  Toledo,  alas!  is  dead;  the  centre  of 
light  and  learning  is  mouldering  in  the  very 
slough  of  ignorance,  and  Christianity  compares 
badly  enough  with  the  rule  of  Arab  and  Jew. 

Nevertheless,  it  must  be  said  that,  had  matters 
been  left  as  Isabella  and  Ferdinand  left  them, 
Spain  might  have  benefited  by  the  example  of  her 
conquerors,  as  other  countries  have  done,  and  as 


1 6  Spanish  Life 

she  herself  did  during  the  Roman  occupation. 
Philip  II.  was  too  wise  to  expel  the  richest  and 
most  industrious  of  his  subjects  so  long  as  they 
paid  his  taxes  and,  at  least,  professed  to  be  Chris- 
tians. It  was  not  until  the  reign  of  Philip  III. 
and  his  disgraceful  favourite  L,erma,  himself  the 
most  bigoted  of  Valencian  "  Christians,"  that,  by 
the  advice  of  Ribera,  the  Archbishop  of  Valencia, 
these  industrious,  thrifty,  and  harmless  people 
were  ruthlessly  driven  out.  They  had  turned 
Valencia  into  a  prolific  garden, — even  to-day  it  is 
called  the  huerta, — their  silk  manufactures  were 
known  and  valued  throughout  the  world;  their 
industry  and  frugality  were,  in  fact,  their  worst 
crimes;  they  were  able  to  draw  wealth  from  the 
sterile  lands  which  "  Christians"  found  wholly 
unproductive.  "Since  it  is  impossible  to  kill 
them  all,"  said  Ribera,  the  representative  of 
Christ,  he  again  and  again  urged  on  the  King 
their  expulsion. 

The  nobles  and  landowners  protested  in  vain. 
September  22,  1609,  is  one  of  the  blackest — per- 
haps, in  fact,  the  blackest — of  all  days  in  the  disas- 
trous annals  of  Spain.  The  Marques  de  Caracena, 
Viceroy  of  Valencia,  issued  the  terrible  edict  of 
expulsion.  Six  of  the  oldest  and  "  most  Chris- 
tian "  Moriscos  in  each  community  of  a  hundred 
souls  were  to  remain  to  teach  their  modes  of  cul- 
tivation and  their  industries,  and  only  three  days 
were  allowed  for  the  carrying  out  of  this  most 
wicked  and  suicidal  law.  In  the  following  six 


Land  and  People  17 

months  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  Moors 
were  hounded  out  of  the  land  which  their  an- 
cestors had  possessed  and  enriched  for  centuries. 
Murcia,  Andalucia,  Aragon,  Cataluna,  Castile, 
L,a  Mancha,  and  Estremadura  were  next  taken  in 
hand.  In  these  latter  provinces  the  cruel  blunder 
was  all  the  worse,  since  the  Moors  had  intermar- 
ried with  the  Iberian  inhabitants,  and  had  really 
embraced  the  Christian  religion,  so  called. 

Half  a  million  souls,  according  to  Father  Bleda, 
in  his  Defensio  Fidei,  were  thrust  out,  with  every 
aggravation  of  cruelty  and  robbery.  No  nation 
can  commit  crimes  like  this  without  suffering  more 
than  its  victims.  Spain  has  never  to  this  day  re- 
covered from  the  blow  to  her  own  prosperity,  to  her 
commerce,  her  manufactures,  and  her  civilisation 
dealt  by  the  narrow-minded  and  ignorant  King, 
led  by  a  despicable  favourite,  and  the  fanatical 
bigot,  Ribera.  With  the  Moors  went  almost  all 
their  arts  and  industries;  immense  tracts  of  coun- 
try became  arid  wastes:  Castile  and  La  Mancha 
barely  raise  crops  every  second  year  where  the 
Moriscos  reaped  their  teeming  harvest,  and  Kstre- 
madura  from  a  smiling  garden  became  a  waste 
where  wandering  flocks  of  sheep  and  pigs  now 
find  a  bare  subsistence.  Nor  was  this  all.  Sci- 
ence and  learning  were  also  driven  out  with  the 
Arab  and  Jew;  C6rdoba,  like  Toledo,  vanished, 
as  the  centre  of  intellectual  life.  In  place  of  en- 
lightened agriculture,  irrigation  of  the  dry  land, 
and  the  planting  of  trees,  the  peasant  was  taught 


1 8  Spanish  Life 

to  take  for  his  example  San  Isidro,  the  patron 
saint  of  the  labourer,  who  spent  his  days  in  prayer, 
and  left  his  fields  to  plough  and  sow  themselves; 
the  forests  were  cut  down  for  fuel,  until  the  shade- 
less  wastes  became  less  and  less  productive,  and 
the  whole  land  on  the  elevated  plains,  which  the 
Moors  had  irrigated  and  planted,  became  little 
better  than  a  desert. 

It  was  not  only  in  the  mother  country  that 
frightful  acts  of  bigotry  and  lust  for  wealth  were 
enacted.  In  Peru  the  Spaniards  found  a  splendid 
civilisation  among  the  strange  races  of  the  Incas, 
a  condition  of  order  which  many  modern  states 
might  envy,  a  religion  absolutely  free  from  fetish 
worship,  and  a  standard  of  morality  which  has 
never  been  surpassed.  But  they  ruthlessly  de- 
stroyed it  all,  desecrated  the  temples  where  the 
sun  was  worshipped  only  as  a  visible  representa- 
tive of  a  God  "  of  whom  nothing  could  be  known 
save  by  His  works,"  as  their  tenet  ran,  and  sub- 
stituted the  religion  which  they  represented  as 
having  been  taught  by  Jesus  of  Nazareth;  a  re- 
ligion which  looked  for  its  chief  power  to  the  hor- 
rible Inquisition  and  its  orgies  called  Autos  da  fe  ! 

As  regards  the  mysterious  race  of  the  Incas, 
who  in  comparison  with  the  native  Indians  were 
almost  white,  and  who  possessed  a  high  cultiva- 
tion, it  is  curious  to  note  that  during  the  late 
troubles  in  China  records  came  to  light  in  the 
Palace  of  Pekin  showing  that  Chinese  missionaries 
landed  on  the  coast  subsequently  known  as  Peru, 


Land  and  People  19 

in  ages  long  antecedent  to  the  discovery  of  the 
country  by  the  Spaniards,  and  established  temples 
and  schools  there.  No  one  who  reads  the  minute 
accounts  of  the  Incas  from  Garcilaso  de  la  Vega 
— himself  of  the  royal  race  on  his  mother's  side, 
his  father  having  been  one  of  the  Spanish  adven- 
turers— can  avoid  the  conclusion  that  the  religion 
of  the  Incas,  thus  utterly  destroyed  by  the  Span- 
iards, was  much  more  nearly  that  of  Christ  than 
the  debased  worship  introduced  in  its  place.  The 
whole  story  of  these  "Children  of  the  Sun,"  told 
by  one  of  themselves  afterwards  in  Cordoba, 
where  he  is  always  careful  to  keep  on  the  right 
side  of  the  Inquisition  by  pretending  to  be  a 
"  Christian  after  the  manner  of  his  father,"  is 
fascinatingly  interesting  as  well  as  instructive. 

It  is  almost  impossible  to  speak  of  the  Spanish 
Inquisition  and  its  baneful  influence  on  the  people 
without  seeming  to  be  carried  away  by  prejudice 
or  even  bigotry,  but  it  is  equally  impossible  for 
the  ordinary  student  of  history  to  read,  even  in 
the  pages  of  the  ' '  orthodox, ' '  the  terrible  repres- 
sion of  its  iron  hand  on  all  that  was  advancing  in 
the  nation;  its  writers,  its  singers,  its  men  of 
science,  wherever  they  dared  to  raise  their  voices 
in  ever  so  faint  a  cry,  ground  down  to  one  dead 
level  of  unthinking  acquiescence,  or  driven  forth 
from  their  native  land,  without  ceasing  to  wonder 
at  all  at  Spain's  decadence  from  the  moment  she 
had  handed  herself  over,  bound  hand  and  foot,  to 
the  Church.  Wondering,  rather,  at  her  enormous 


20  Spanish  Life 

inherent  vitality,  which  at  last,  after  so  many 
centuries  of  spasmodic  effort,  has  shaken  off  the 
incubus  and  regained  liberty,  or  for  the  first  time 
established  it  in  the  realms  of  religion,  science, 
and  general  instruction. 

It  matters  little  or  nothing  whether  the  Inqui- 
sition, with  its  secret  spies,  its  closed  doors,  its 
mockery  of  justice,  and  its  terrible  background  of 
smouldering  Quemadero,  was  the  instrument  of  the 
Church  or  of  the  King  for  the  moment.  Whether 
a  religious  or  a  political  tyranny,  it  was  at  all  times 
opposed  to  the  very  essence  of  freedom,  and  it  was 
deliberately  used,  and  would  be  again  to-day  if  it 
were  possible  to  restore  it,  to  keep  the  people  in 
a  gross  state  of  ignorance  and  superstition.  That 
it  was  admirable  as  an  organisation  only  shows  it 
in  a  more  baneful  light,  since  it  was  used  to  crush 
out  all  progress.  Its  effect  is  well  expressed  in 
the  old  proverb:  "  Between  the  King  and  the  In- 
quisition we  must  not  open  our  lips." 

"  I  would  rather  think  I  had  ascended  from 
an  ape,"  said  Huxley,  in  his  celebrated  answer 
to  the  Bishop  of  Oxford,  "  than  that  I  had  de- 
scended from  a  man  who  used  great  gifts  to 
darken  reason."  It  has  been  the  object  of  the 
Inquisition  to  darken  reason  wherever  it  had  the 
power,  and  it  left  the  mass  of  the  Spanish  people, 
great  and  generous  as  they  are  by  nature,  for  long 
a  mere  mob  of  inert  animals,  ready  to  amuse  them- 
selves when  their  country  was  at  its  hour  of 
greatest  agony,  debased  by  the  sight  of  wholesale 


Land  and  People  21 

and  cruel  murders  carried  out  by  the  priests  of 
their  religion  in  the  name  of  Christ. 

Even  to-day  the  Spaniard  of  the  lower  classes 
can  scarcely  understand  that  he  can  have  any  part 
or  parcel  in  the  government  of  his  country.  I/ong 
ages  of  misrule  have  made  him  hate  all  govern- 
ments alike:  he  imagines  that  all  the  evils  he  finds 
in  the  world  of  his  own  experience  are  the  work 
of  whoever  happens  to  be  the  ruler  for  the  time 
being;  that  it  is  possible  for  him  to  have  any  say 
in  the  matter  never  enters  his  head,  and  he  votes, 
if  he  votes  at  all,  as  he  is  ordered  to  vote.  He 
has  been  taught  for  ages  past  to  believe  whatever 
he  has  been  told.  His  reason  has  been  "  offered 
as  a  sacrifice  to  God,"  if  indeed  he  is  aware  that 
he  possesses  any. 

The  danger  of  the  thorough  awakening  may  be 
that  which  broke  out  so  wildly  during  Castelar's 
short  and  disastrous  attempt  at  a  republic:  that 
when  once  he  breaks  away  from  the  binding 
power  of  his  old  religion,  he  may  have  nothing 
better  than  atheism  and  anarchism  to  fall  back 
upon.  The  days  of  the  absolute  reign  of  ignorance 
and  superstition  are  over;  but  the  people  are 
deeply  religious.  Will  the  Church  of  Spain  adapt 
itself  to  the  new  state  of  things,  or  will  it  see  its 
people  drift  away  from  its  pale  altogether,  as  other 
nations  have  done?  This  is  the  true  clerical 
question  which  looms  darkly  before  the  Spain  of 
to-day. 

To  return,  however.     The  Austrian  kings  of 


22  Spanish  Life 

Spain  had  brought  her  only  ruin.  With  the 
Bourbons  it  was  hoped  a  better  era  had  opened, 
but  it  was  only  exchanging  one  form  of  misrule 
for  another.  •  The  kings  existed  for  their  own 
benefit  and  pleasure;  the  people  existed  to  minis- 
ter to  them  and  find  funds  for  their  extravagance. 
Each  succeeding  monarch  was  ruled  by  some  up- 
start favourite,  until  the  climax  was  reached  when 
Godoy,  the  disgraceful  Minister  of  Charles  IV., 
and  the  open  lover  of  his  Queen,  sold  the  country 
to  Napoleon.  Then  indeed  awoke  the  great  heart 
of  the  nation,  and  Spain  has  the  everlasting  glory 
of  having  risen  as  one  man  against  the  French 
despot,  and,  by  the  help  of  England,  stopped  his 
mad  career.  Even  then,  under  the  base  and  con- 
temptible Ferdinand  VII.,  she  underwent  the 
"Terror  of  1824,"  the  disastrous  and  unworthy 
regency  of  Cristina,  and  the  still  worse  rule  of  her 
daughter,  Isabel  II.,  before  she  awoke  politically 
as  a  nation,  and,  her  innumerable  parties  forming 
as  one,  drove  out  the  Queen,  with  her  camarilla  of 
priests  and  bleeding  nuns,  and  at  last  achieved 
her  freedom. 

For,  whatever  may  be  said  of  the  last  hundred 
years  of  Spain's  history,  it  has  been  an  advance, 
a  continuous  struggle  for  life  and  liberty.  There 
had  been  fluctuating  periods  of  progress.  Charles 
III.,  a  truly  wise  and  patriotic  monarch,  the  first 
since  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  made  extraordinary 
changes  during  his  too  short  life.  The  population 
of  the  country  rose  a  million  and  a  half  in  the 


Land  and  People  23 

twenty-seven  years  of  his  reign,  and  the  public 
revenue  in  like  proportions  under  his  enlightened 
Minister,  Florida  Blanca.  No  phase  of  the  public 
welfare  was  neglected:  savings  banks,  hospitals, 
asylums,  free  schools,  rose  up  on  all  sides;  va- 
grancy and  mendicancy  were  sternly  repressed; 
while  men  of  science  and  skilled  craftsmen  were 
brought  from  foreign  countries,  and  it  seemed  as 
if  Spain  had  fairly  started  on  her  upward  course. 
But  he  died  before  his  time  in  1788,  and  was  fol- 
lowed by  a  son  and  grandson,  who,  with  their 
wives,  ruled  by  base  favourites,  dragged  the 
honour  of  Spain  in  the  dust.  Still,  the  impulse 
had  been  given;  there  had  been  a  break  in  the 
long  story  of  misrule  and  misery;  Mendizabal  and 
Espartero  scarcely  did  more  than  lighten  the  black 
canopy  of  cloud  overhanging  the  country  for  a 
time;  but  at  last  came  freedom,  halting  some- 
what, as  must  needs  be,  but  no  longer  to  be  re- 
pressed or  driven  back  by  the  baneful  influence 
known  aspalaao,  intrigues  arising  in  the  imme- 
diate circle  of  the  Court. 


CHAPTER  II 
TYPES  AND  TRAITS 

IT  is  the  fashion  to-day  to  minimise  the  influence 
of  the  Goths  on  the  national  characteristics 
of  the  Spaniard.  We  are  told  by  some  modern 
writers  that  their  very  existence  is  little  more 
than  a  myth,  and  that  the  name  of  their  last  King, 
Roderick,  is  all  that  is  really  known  about  them. 
The  castle  of  Wamba,  or  at  least  the  hill  on 
which  it  stood,  is  still  pointed  out  to  the  visitor 
in  Toledo,  perched  high  above  the  red  torrent  of 
the  rushing  Tagus;  but  little  seems  to  be  certainly 
known  of  this  hardy  Northern  race  which,  for 
some  three  hundred  years,  occupied  the  country 
after  the  Romans  had  withdrawn  their  protecting 
legions.  On  the  approach  of  the  all-conquering 
Moor,  many  of  the  inhabitants  of  Spain  took 
refuge  in1  the  inaccessible  mountains  of  the  north, 
and  were  the  ancestors  of  that  invincible  people 
known  in  Spain  as  "  los  Montaneses,"  from  whom 
almost  all  that  is  best  in  literature,  as  well  as  in 
business  capacity,  has  sprung  in  later  years. 

How  much  of  the  Celt-Iberian,  or  original  in- 
habitant of  the  Peninsula,  and  how  much  of  Gothic 
24 


Types  and  Traits  25 

or  of  Teuton  blood  runs  in  the  veins  of  the  people 
of  the  mountains,  it  is  more  than  difficult  now  to 
determine.  It  had  been  impossible,  despite  laws 
and  penalties,  to  prevent  the  intermingling  of  the 
races:  all  that  we  certainly  know  is  that  the  in- 
habitants of  Galicia,  Asturias,  Viscaya,  Navarro, 
and  Aragon  have  always  exhibited  the  character- 
istics of  a  hardy,  fighting,  pushing  race,  as  dis- 
tinguished from  the  Andaluces,  the  Valencianos, 
the  Murcianos,  and  people  of  Granada,  in  whom 
the  languid  blood  of  a  Southern  people  and  the 
more  marked  trace  of  Arabic  heritage  are  apparent. 

The  Catalans  would  appear,  again,  to  be  de- 
scendants of  the  old  Provencals,  at  one  time  settled 
on  both  sides  of  the  Pyrenees,  though  forming, 
at  that  time,  part  of  Spain.  Their  language  is 
almost  pure  Provencal,  and  they  differ,  as  history 
shows  in  a  hundred  ways,  from  the  inhabitants  of 
the  rest  of  Spain.  The  Castilians,  occupying  the 
centre  of  the  country,  are  what  we  know  as 
"  Spaniards,"  and  may  be  taken  to  hold  a  middle 
place  among  these  widely  differing  nationalities, 
modified  by  their  contact  with  all.  Their  lan- 
guage is  that  of  cultivated  Spai  n.  No  one  dreams 
of  asking  if  you  speak  Spanish;  it  is  always: 
Habla  v  Castellano  ?  And  it  is  certainly  a  rem- 
nant of  the  old  Roman,  which,  as  we  know,  its 
emperors  spoke  "  with  a  difference,"  albeit  there 
are  many  traces  of  Arabic  about  it. 

Even  at  the  present  day,  when  Spain  is  rapidly 
becoming  homogeneous,  the  people  of  the  different 


26  Spanish  Life 

provinces  are  almost  as  well  known  by  their  trades 
as  by  their  special  characteristics.  A  Gallego — 
really  a  native  of  Galicia — means,  in  the  common 
parlance,  a  porter,  a  water-carrier,  almost  a  beast 
of  burden,  and  the  Galicians  are  as  well  known 
for  this  purpose  in  Portugal  as  in  Spain,  great 
numbers  finding  ready  employment  in  the  former 
country,  where  manual  labour  is  looked  upon  as 
impossible  for  a  native.  The  men  of  the  lowest 
class  emigrate  to  more  favoured  provinces,  since 
their  own  is  too  poor  to  support  them ;  they  work 
hard,  and  return  with  their  savings  to  their  native 
hills.  Their  fellow-countrymen  consider  them 
boorish  in  manners,  uneducated,  and  of  a  low 
class;  but  they  are  good-natured  and  docile,  hard- 
working, temperate,  and  honest.  "  In  your  life," 
wrote  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  "  you  never  saw 
anything  so  bad  as  the  Galicians;  and  yet  they 
are  the  finest  body  of  men  and  the  best  movers  I 
have  ever  seen."  There  is  a  greater  similarity 
between  Galicia  and  Portugal  than  between  the 
former  and  any  other  province  of  Spain. 

Although  they  lie  so  close  together,  Asturias 
differs  widely  from  its  sister  province  both  in  the 
character  of  its  people  and  its  scenery.  The  Ro- 
mans took  two  hundred  years  to  subdue  it,  and 
the  Moors  never  obtained  a  footing  there.  The 
Asturians  are  a  hardy,  independent  race,  proud 
of  giving  the  title  to  the  heir-apparent  of  the 
Spanish  throne.  The  people  of  this  province, 
like  their  neighbours  the  Basques,  are  handsome 


Types  and  Traits  27 

and  robust  in  appearance;  they  are  always  to  be 
recognised  in  Madrid  by  their  fresh  appearance 
and  excellent  physique.  For  the  most  part  they 
are  to  be  found  engaged  in  the  fish  trade,  while 
their  women,  gorgeously  dressed  in  their  native 
costume  by  their  employers,  are  the  nurses  of  the 
upper  classes. 

The  ladies  of  Madrid  do  not  think  it  "good 
style"  to  bring  up  their  own  children,  and  the 
Asturian  wet  nurse  is  as  much  a  part  of  the  ordi- 
nary household  as  the  coachman  or  mayordomo. 
They  are  singularly  handsome,  well-grown  wo- 
men, and  become  great  favourites  in  the  houses 
of  their  employers;  but,  like  their  menkind,  they 
go  back  to  spend  their  savings  among  their  be- 
loved hills.  Many  of  these  young  women  come 
to  Madrid  on  the  chance  of  finding  situations, 
leaving  their  own  babies  behind  to  be  fed  by  hand, 
or  Heaven  knows  how;  they  bring  with  them  a 
young  puppy  to  act  as  substitute  until  the  nurse- 
child  is  found,  and  may  be  seen  in  the  registry 
offices  waiting  to  be  hired,  with  their  little  canine 
foster-children.  It  is  said  that  the  Asturian  wo- 
men never  part  from  the  puppies  that  they  have 
fed  from  their  own  breasts. 

The  Basque  Provinces  are,  perhaps,  the  best 
known  to  English  travellers,  since  they  generally 
enter  Spain  by  that  route,  and  those  staying  in 
the  south  of  France  are  fond  of  running  across  to 
have  at  least  a  look  at  Spain,  and  to  be  able  to  say 
they  have  been  there.  The  people  pride  them- 


28  Spanish  Life 

selves  on  being  "  the  oldest  race  in  Europe,"  and 
are,  no  doubt,  the  direct  descendants  of  the 
original  and  uuconquered  inhabitants  of  the 
Iberian  Peninsula.  In  Guipuzcoa,  the  Basque 
may  still  be  seen  living  in  his  flat-roofed  stone 
house,  of  which  he  is  sure  to  be  proprietor,  using 
a  mattock  in  place  of  plough,  and  leading  his 
oxen — for  bueyes  are  never  driven — attached  to 
one  of  the  heavy,  solid- wheeled  carts  by  an  elab- 
orately carved  yoke,  covered  with  a  sheepskin. 
He  clings  tenaciously  to  his  unintelligible  lan- 
guage, and  is  quite  certain  that  he  is  superior  to 
the  whole  human  race. 

Thefueros,  or  special  rights,  already  spoken  of, 
for  which  the  Basques  have  fought  so  passionately 
for  five  hundred  years,  might  possibly  have  been 
theirs  for  some  time  longer  if  they  had  not  un- 
wisely thrown  in  their  lot  with  the  Carlist  Pre- 
tender. They  practically  formed  a  republic  within 
the  monarchy;  but  in  1876,  when  the  young 
Alfonso  XII.  finally  conquered  the  provinces,  all 
differences  between  them  and  the  other  parts  of 
the  kingdom  were  abolished,  and  they  had  to  sub- 
mit to  the  abhorred  conscription.  With  all  the 
burning  indignation,  which  still  makes  some  of 
them  say,  "  I  am  not  a  Spaniard;  I  am  a  Basque," 
the  extraordinary  advance  made  in  this  part  of 
Spain  seems  to  show  that  the  hereditary  energy 
and  talent  of  the  people  are  on  the  side  of  national 
progress. 

The  distinctive  dress  of  the  Basques  is  now 


Types  and  Traits  29 

almost  a  thing  of  the  past;  the  bright  kerchiefs 
of  the  women  and  the  dark-blue  cap  (boina)  of  the 
men  alone  remain.  The  Viscayan  bdina  has  been 
lately  introduced  into  the  French  army  as  the 
headgear  of  the  Chasseurs  and  some  other  regi- 
ments. 

"  Aragon  is  not  ours;  we  ought  to  conquer  it!  " 
Isabel  la  Catolica  is  said  to  have  remarked  to  her 
husband;  and,  indeed,  the  history  of  this  little 
province  is  wonderfully  interesting  and  amusing. 
It  alone  seems  to  have  had  the  good  sense  always 
to  secure  its  rights  before  it  would  vote  supplies 
for  the  Austrian  kings;  whereas  the  other  prov- 
inces usually  gave  their  money  without  any 
security,  except  the  word  of  the  King,  which  was 
usually  broken.  Among  the  provisions  of  the 
fueros  of  the  Aragonese  was  one  that  ran  thus: 
' '  Que  siempre  que  el  rey  quebrantose  sus  fueros, 
pudiessen  eligir  otro  rey  encora  que  sea  pagano ' ' 
(If  ever  the  King  should  infringe  our  fueros,  we 
can  elect  another  King,  even  though  he  might  be 
a  pagan),  and  the  preamble  of  the  election  ran 
thus:  "  We,  who  are  as  good  as  you,  and  are  more 
powerful  than  you  {podemos  mas  que  vos)  elect 
you  King  in  order  that  you  may  protect  our  rights 
and  liberties,  and  also  we  elect  one  between  us 
and  you  (el  justidd),  who  has  more  power  than 
you:  y  si  no,  no/"  which  may  be  taken  to  mean, 
"  otherwise  you  are  not  our  King." 

Somewhat  of  this  spirit  still  abides  in  the  Ara- 
gonese. The  costume  is  one  of  the  most  pictur- 


30  Spanish  Life 

esque  in  Spain.  The  men  wear  short  black  velvet 
breeches,  open  at  the  knees  and  slashed  at  the 
sides,  adorned  with  rows  of  buttons,  and  showing 
white  drawers  underneath;  alpargatas,  or  the 
plaited  hempen  sandals,  which,  with  the  stock- 
ings, are  black;  a  black  velvet  jacket,  with 
slashed  and  button-trimmed  sleeves,  and  the 
gaily -coloured  faja,  or  silk  sash,  worn  over  an 
elaborate  shirt. 

In  the  old  days,  when  one  entered  Spain  by 
diligence  from  Bayonne  to  Pampeluna  over  the 
Pyrenees,  one  learned  something  of  the  beauty  of 
the  scenery  and  the  healthy,  hardy  characteristics 
of  the  people,  as  one  whirled  along  through  the 
chestnut  groves,  over  the  leaping  streams,  always 
at  full  gallop,  up  hill  and  down  dalei  with  a  preci- 
pice on  one  side  of  the  road  and  the  overhanging 
mountains  on  the  other.  Below  lay  a  fertile 
country  with  comfortable  little  homesteads  and 
villages  clustering  round  their  church,  and  the  like 
dotted  the  hillsides  and  the  valleys  wherever  there 
seemed  a  foothold.  As  the  diligence,  with  its 
team  of  ten  or  twelve  mules,  dashed  through 
these  villages  or  past  the  isolated  farms,  the  peo- 
ple stood  at  their  doors  and  shouted ;  it  was  evi- 
dently the  event  of  the  day.  The  mules  were 
changed  every  hour,  or  rather  more,  according 
to  the  road,  and  as  the  ascent  became  steeper 
more  were  added  to  their  number;  sometimes  six 
or  eight  starting  from  Bayonne  where  twelve  or 
fourteen  were  needed  for  the  top  of  the  Pass.  At 


Types  and  Traits  31 

least  half  the  journey  was  always  made  at  night, 
and  if  there  were  a  moon  the  scenery  became 
magically  beautiful;  but,  in  any  case,  the  stars, 
in  that  clear  atmosphere,  made  it  almost  as  bright 
as  day,  while  a  ruddy  light  streamed  from  the 
lamp  over  the  driver's  seat,  far  above  the  coupe, 
along  the  string  of  hurrying  mules,  as  they  dashed 
round  precipitous  corners,  dangerous  enough  in 
broad  daylight.  If  one  of  the  animals  chanced 
to  fall,  it  was  dragged  by  its  companions  to  the 
bottom  of  the  gorge,  where  it  would  get  up,  shake 
itself,  and  prepare  to  tear  up  the  next  ascent  as  if 
nothing  had  happened. 

A  good  idea  could  be  formed  of  these  hardy 
mountaineers  in  passing  through  their  village 
homes.  They  are  tall  and  good-looking,  and 
seem  to  be  simply  overflowing  with  animal 
spirits.  If  it  chanced  to  be  on  a  Sunday  after- 
noon, the  priest,  with  his  sotana  tucked  up  round 
his  waist,  would  be  found  playing  the  national 
game  of  pelota  with  his  flock,  using  the  blank 
wall  of  the  church  as  a  court. 

One  is  apt  to  forget  that  Old  Castile  is  one  of 
the  provinces  having  a  northern  sea-board.  The 
inhabitants  of  this  borderland  are,  to  judge  by 
appearance,  superior  to  the  people  of  the  plains, 
who  certainly  strike  the  casual  observer  as  being 
dirty  and  somewhat  dull.  The  Castilian  and 
Aragonese,  however,  may  be  said  to  constitute 
the  heart  of  the  nation.  L,eon  and  Estremadura 
form  a  part  of  the  same  raised  plateau,  but  their 


32  Spanish  Life 

people  are  very  different.  In  speaking  of  the 
national  characteristics,  one  must  be  taken  to 
mean,  not  by  any  means  the  Madrileno,  but  the 
countrymen,  whose  homes  are  not  to  be  j  udged  by 
the  posadas,  or  inns,  which  exist  mainly  for  the 
muleteer  and  his  animals,  and  are  neither  clean 
nor  savoury. 

"All  the  forces  of  Europe  would  not  be  sufficient 
to  subdue  the  Castiles — with  the  people  against  it" 
was  Peterborough's  remark,  and  our  Iron  Duke 
never  despaired  ' '  while  the  country  was  with 
him. ' '  He  bore  with  the  generals  and  the  Juntas 
of  the  upper  classes,  in  spite  of  his  indignation 
against  them,  and,  "  cheered  by  the  people 's  sup- 
port,'" as  Napier  says,  carried  out  his  campaign 
of  victory. 

The  ancient  qualities  of  which  the  Castilians 
are  proud  are  gravedad,  lealtad,  y  amor  de  Dios 
— "dignity,  loyalty,  and  love  of  God."  No  won- 
der that  when  the  nation  arises,  it  carries  a  matter 
through. 

Estremadura,  after  the  expulsion  of  the  Moors, 
in  whose  days  it  was  a  fruitful  garden,  seems  to 
have  been  forgotten  by  the  rest  of  Spain;  it  be- 
came the  pasturage  for  the  wandering  flocks  of 
merino  sheep,  the  direct  descendants  of  the  Be- 
douin herds,  and  of  the  pigs,  which  almost  over- 
run it.  Yet  the  remains  of  the  Romans  in 
Estremadura  are  the  most  interesting  in  Spain, 
and  bear  witness  to  the  flourishing  condition  of 
the  province  in  their  day ;  moreover,  Pizarro  and 


Types  and  Traits  33 

Cortes  owe  their  birth  to  this  forgotten  land. 
The  inhabitants  of  the  southern  provinces  of 
Spain  differ  wholly  from  those  of  Castile  and  the 
north — they  have  much  more  of  the  Eastern  type; 
in  fact,  the  Valenciano  or  the  Murciaiio  of  the 
huerta,  the  well-watered  soil  which  the  Moors 
left  in  such  a  high  state  of  cultivation,  in  manners 
and  appearance  are  often  little  different  from  the 
Arab  as  we  know  him  to-day. 

From  the  gay  Andaluz  we  derive  most  of  our 
ideas  of  the  Spanish  peasant ;  but  he  is  a  complete 
contrast  to  the  dignified  Castilian  or  the  brusque 
Montanese.  From  this  province,  given  over  to 
song,  dancing,  and  outdoor  life,  come  —  almost 
without  exception — the  bull-fighters,  whose  grace- 
ful carriage,  full  of  power,  and  whose  picturesque 
costume,  make  them  remarkable  wherever  seen. 
Lively  audacity  is  their  special  characteristic. 
Sal  (salt)  is  their  ideal ;  we  have  no  word  which 
carries  the  same  meaning.  Smart  repartee,  grace, 
charm,  all  are  expressed  in  the  word  Salada  ;  and 
Salero  (literally,  salt-cellar)  is  an  expression  met 
with  in  every  second  song  one  hears. 

Old  Salero  !  Sin  vanidad, 

Soy  muy.bonita,  Soy  muy  Sala! 

is  the  refrain  of  one  of  their  most  characteristic 
songs,  La  moza  e  rumbo,  and  may  be  taken  as  a 
sample : — 

Listen,  Salero!  without  vanity, 
I  am  lovely— I  am  Salada  ! 


34  Spanish  Life 

During  the  Feria  at  Seville,  the  upper  classes 
camp  out  in  tents  or  huts,  and  the  girls  pass  their 
time  in  singing  and  dancing,  like  the  peasantry. 

The  Valencians  are  very  different,  being  slow, 
quiet,  almost  stupid  to  the  eye  of  the  stranger, 
extremely  industrious,  and  wrapped  up  in  their 
agricultural  pursuits.  They  fully  understand  and 
appreciate  the  system  of  irrigation  left  by  the 
Moors,  which  has  made  their  province  the  most 
densely  populated  and  the  most  prosperous  in  ap- 
pearance of  all  Spain. 

A  curious  survival  exists  in  Valencia  in  the 
Tribunal  de  las  Aguas,  which  is  presided  over  by 
three  of  the  oldest  men  in  the  city;  it  is  a  direct 
inheritance  from  the  Moors,  and  from  its  verdict 
there  is  no  appeal. 

Every  Thursday  the  old  men  take  their  seats  on 
a  bench  outside  one  of  the  doors  of  the  cathedral, 
and  to  them  come  all  those  who  have  disputes 
about  irrigation,  marshalled  by  two  beadles  in 
strange,  Old-World  uniforms.  When  both  sides 
have  been  heard,  the  old  men  put  their  heads  to- 
gether under  a  cloak  or  manta,  and  agree  upon 
their  judgment.  The  covering  is  then  with- 
drawn, and  the  decision  is  announced.  On  one 
occasion  they  decreed  that  a  certain  man  whom 
they  considered  in  fault  was  to  pay  a  fine.  The 
unwary  litigant,  thinking  that  his  case  had  not 
been  properly  heard,  began  to  try  to  address  the 
judges  in  mitigation  of  the  sentence. 

"  But,  Senores — "  he  began. 


Types  and  Traits  35 

' '  Pay  another  peseta  for  speaking ! ' '  solemnly 
said  the  spokesman  of  the  elders. 

"Pero,  Senores " 

"Una  peseta  mas!"  solemnly  returned  the 
judge;  and  at  last,  finding  that  each  time  he 
opened  his  lips  cost  him  one  more  peseta,  he  soon 
gave  up  and  retired. 

The  Valencian  costume  for  men  consists  of  wide 
white  cotton  drawers  to  the  knees,  looking  almost 
like  petticoats,  sandals  of  hemp,  with  gaiters  left 
open  between  the  knee  and  the  ankle,  a  red  sash, 
orfafa,  a  short  velvet  jacket,  and  a  handkerchief 
twisted  turban -fashion  round  the  head.  The 
hidalgos  wear  the  long  cloak  and  wide  sombrero 
common  to  all  the  country  districts  of  Spain. 

In  speaking  of  Spaniards  and  their  character- 
istics, as  I  have  already  said,  we  have  to  take  into 
account  the  presence  of  all  these  widely  differing 
races  under  one  crown,  and  to  remember  that  to- 
day there  is  no  hard-and-fast  line  among  the 
cultivated  classes:  intermarriage  has  fused  the 
conflicting  elements,  very  much  for  the  good  of 
the  country,  and  rapid  intercommunication  by 
rail  and  telegraph  has  brought  all  parts  of  the 
kingdom  together,  as  they  have  never  been  be- 
fore. Education  is  now  placed  within  reach  of 
all,  and  even  long-forgotten  Estremadura  is 
brought  to  share  in  the  impulse  towards  national 
life  and  commercial  progress.  Comte  Paul  Vasili, 
in  his  charming  Lettres  intdites  to  a  young  diplo- 
matist, first  published  in  the  pages  of  La  Nouvclle 


36  Spanish  Life 

Revue,  gives  such  an  exact  picture  of  the  Spanish 
people,  of  whom  he  had  so  wide  an  experience 
and  such  intimate  knowledge,  that  I  am  tempted 
to  quote  it  in  full. 

1 '  The  famous  phrase,  A  la  disposition  de  V. ,  has 
no  meaning  in  the  upper  ranks,  is  a  fiction  with 
the  bourgeoisie,  but  is  simple  truth  in  the  mouth 
of  the  people.  The  pure-blooded  Spaniard  is  the 
most  hospitable,  the  most  ready  giver  in  the 
world.  He  offers  with  his  whole  heart,  and  is 
hurt  when  one  does  not  accept  what  he  offers. 
He  does  not  pretend  to  know  anything  beyond 
his  own  country  ...  he  exaggerates  the 
dignity  of  humanity  in  his  own  person.  .  .  . 
Even  in  asking  alms  of  you  he  says:  Hermanito, 
una  limosna,  par  el  amor  de  Dios.  He  does  not 
beg;  no,  he  asks,  demands;  and,  miserable  and  in 
rags  as  he  may  be,  he  treats  you  as  a  brother — 
he  does  you  the  honour  of  accepting  you  as  his 
equal.  The  Spaniard  who  has  a  novia,  a  guitar, 
a  cigarillo,  and  the  knowledge  that  he  has  enough 
to  pay  for  a  seat  at  the  bull-fight,  possesses  all 
that  he  can  possibly  need.  He  will  eat  a  plateful 
of  gazpacho  or  puchero,  a  sardine,  half  a  roll  of 
bread,  and  drink  clear  water  as  often  as  wine. 
Food  is  always  of  secondary  importance:  he  ranks 
it  after  his  novia,  after  his  cigarillo,  after  the  bulls. 
Sleep?  He  can  sleep  anywhere,  even  on  the 
ground.  Dress  ?  He  has  always  his  capa,  and  la 
capa  todo  lo  tapa.  The  Spaniard  is,  above  all 
things,  rumboso ;  that  is  to  say,  he  has  a  large, 


Types  and  Traits  37 

generous,  and  sound  heart.  .  .  .  The  masses 
in  Spain  are  perfectly  contented,  believing  them- 
selves sincerely  to  be  the  most  heroic  of  people. 
The  Spaniard  is  naturally  happy,  because  his 
wants  are  almost  nil,  and  he  has  the  fixed  idea 
that  kings — his  own  or  those  of  other  nations — 
are  all,  at  least,  his  cousins." 

This  is  not  the  place  to  speak  at  large  of  the  re- 
ligion of  the  people ;  but  one  remark  one  cannot 
fail  to  make,  and  that  is,  the  place  which  the 
Virgin  holds  in  the  life  and  affections  of  the 
masses.  The  name  of  the  Deity  is  rarely  heard, 
except  as  an  exclamation,  and  the  Christ  is  spoken 
of  rather  as  a  familiar  friend  than  as  the  Second 
Person  in  the  Trinity;  but  the  deep-seated  love 
for  the  Virgin,  and  absolute  belief  in  her  power 
to  help  in  all  the  joys  and  sorrows  of  life  is  one 
of  the  strongest  characteristics  of  this  naturally 
religious  people.  The  names  given  at  baptism 
are  almost  all  hers.  Dolores,  Amparo,  Pilar, 
Trinidad,  Carmen,  Concepcion, — abbreviated  into 
Concha, — are,  in  full,  Maria  de  Dolores,  del  Pilar, 
and  so  forth,  and  are  found  among  men  almost 
as  much  as  among  women.  The  idea  of  the  ever- 
constant  sympathy  of  the  divine  Mother  appeals 
perhaps  even  more  strongly  to  the  man,  carrying 
with  it  his  worship  of  perfect  womanhood,  and 
awakening  the  natural  chivalry  of  his  nature.  Be 
this  as  it  may,  the  influence  of  the  Virgin,  and  the 
sincerity  of  her  worship  in  every  stage  of  life,  in  all 
its  dangers  and  in  all  its  woes,  is  a  religion  in  itself. 


CHAPTER  III 

* 

NATIONAL  CHARACTERISTICS 


strong  characteristics  of  the  Span- 
ish  people,  with  which  the  history  of  the 
world  makes  us  well  acquainted,  are  as  marked 
in  this  hurrying  age  of  railway  and  telegraph  as 
ever  they  were  in  the  past.  One  of  the  stupid  re- 
marks one  constantly  hears  made  by  the  unthink- 
ing tourist  is:  "  Spain  is  a  country  where  nothing 
ever  changes."  This  is  as  true  of  some  of  the 
national  traits  of  character  as  it  is  false  in  the 
sense  in  which  the  speaker  means  it.  He  has 
probably  picked  it  out  of  some  handbook. 

Chief  among  these  traits  is  dignity.  The  most 
casual  visitor  is  impressed  by  it,  sometimes  very 
much  to  his  annoyance,  whether  he  finds  it  among 
the  unlettered  muleteers  of  Castile,  the  labourers 
of  Valencia,  or  the  present  proprietor  of  some 
little  Old-Worldpueblo  off  the  ordinary  route.  The 
mayoral  of  the  diligence  in  the  old  times,  the  do- 
mestic servant  of  to-day,  the  senora  who  happens 
to  sell  you  fish,  or  the  sefior  who  mends  your 
boots,  all  strike  the  same  note  —  an  absolute  in- 
capacity for  imagining  that  there  can  be  any 
38 


National  Characteristics         39 

inequality  between  themselves  and  any  other  class, 
however  far  removed  from  them  by  the  possession 
of  wealth  or  education.  Wealth,  in  fact,  counts 
for  nothing  in  the  way  of  social  rank;  a  poor 
hidalgo  is  exactly  as  much  respected  as  a  rich  one, 
and  he  treats  his  tenants,  his  servants,  all  with 
whom  he  comes  in  contact,  as  brothers  of  the 
same  rank  in  the  sight  of  God  as  himself. 

Bajo  el  Rey  ninguno  is  their  proverb,  and  its 
signification,  that  "  beneath  the  King  all  are 
equal,"  is  one  that  is  shown  daily  in  a  hundred 
ways.  The  formula  with  which  you  are  expected 
to  tell  the  beggars — with  whom,  unfortunately, 
Spain  is  once  more  overrun — that  you  have  no- 
thing for  them,  is  a  lesson  in  what  someone  has 
well  called  the  "aristocratic  democracy  "  of  Spain: 
"  Pardon  me,  for  the  love  of  God,  my  brother," 
or  the  simple  Perdone  me  usted,  using  precisely 
the  same  address  as  you  would  to  a  duke.  It  is 
no  uncommon  thing  to  hear  two  little  ragged 
urchins,  whose  heads  would  not  reach  to  one's 
elbow,  disputing  vigorously  in  the  street  with  a 
Pero  no,  Senor,  Pero  si,  Senor,  as  they  bandy  their 
arguments. 

English  travellers  are  sometimes  found  grum- 
bling because  the  senor  who  keeps  a  wayside 
Posada,  or  even  a  more  pretentious  inn  in  one  of 
the  towns,  does  not  stand,  hat  in  hand,  bowing 
obsequiously  to  the  wayfarer  who  deigns  to  use 
the  accommodation  provided. 

This  is  one  of  the  things  in  which  Spain,  to  her 


40  Spanish  Life 

honour,  is  unchanged.  The  courtesy  of  her  peo- 
ple, high  or  low,  is  ingrained,  and  if  foreign — per- 
haps especially  English  and  American — travellers 
do  not  always  find  it  so,  the  fault  may  oftenest 
be  laid  to  their  own  ignorance  of  what  is  ex- 
pected of  them,  and  to  what  is  looked  upon  as  the 
absolute  boorishness  of  their  own  manners. 

When  a  Spaniard  goes  into  a  shop  where  a  wo- 
man is  behind  the  counter,  or  even  to  a  stall  in 
the  open  market,  he  raises  his  hat  in  speaking  to 
her  as  he  would  to  the  Duquesa  de  Tal  y  Fulano, 
and  uses  precisely  the  same  form  of  address.  The 
shopman  lays  himself  at  the  feet  of  his  lady  cus- 
tomers— metaphorically  only,  fortunately,  A  los 
pies  de  V.t  Senora  ! — with  a  bow  worthy  of  roy- 
alty. She  hopes  that  ' '  God  may  remain  with  his 
worship"  as  she  bids  him  the  ordinary  Adios  on 
going  away,  and  he,  with  equal  politeness,  ex- 
presses a  hope  that  she  may  "  go  in  God's  keep- 
ing," while  he  once  more  lays  himself  at  the 
senora's  feet.  All  these  amenities  do  not  prevent 
a  little  bargaining,  the  one  asking  more  than  he 
means  to  take,  apparently  for  the  purpose  of  ap- 
pearing to  give  way  perforce  to  the  overmastering 
charms  of  his  customer,  who  does  not  disdain  to 
use  either  her  fan  or  her  eyes  in  the  encounter. 
The  old  woman  will  bargain  just  as  much,  but 
always  with  the  same  politeness.  When  foreigners 
walk  in  and  abruptly  ask  for  what  they  want  with 
an  air  of  immense  superiority,  as  is  the  custom 
in  our  country,  they  are  not  unnaturally  looked 


National  Characteristics         41 

upon  as  muy  bruto,  and  at  the  best  it  is  accounted 
for  by  their  being  rude  heretics  from  abroad,  and 
knowing  no  better. 

In  Madrid  and  some  of  the  large  towns  it  is 
possible  that  the  people  have  become  accustomed 
to  our  apparent  discourtesy,  just  as  in  some  places 
— Granada  especially — spoiled  by  long  intimacy 
with  tourists,  the  beggars  have  become  importu- 
nate, and  to  some  extent  impudent;  but  in  places 
a  little  removed  from  such  a  condition  of  modern 
"civilisation,"  the  effect  produced  by  many  a  well- 
meaning  but  ordinary  Saxon  priding  himself  on 
his  superiority,  and  without  any  intention  of  be- 
ing ill-bred  or  ill-mannered,  is  that  of  disgust  and 
contemptuous  annoyance. 

No  Spaniard  will  put  up  with  an  overbearing 
or  bullying  manner,  even  though  he  may  not 
understand  the  language  in  which  it  is  expressed; 
it  raises  in  him  all  the  dormant  pride  and  preju- 
dice which  sleep  beneath  his  own  innate  courtesy, 
and  he  probably  treats  the  offending  traveller  with 
the  profound  contempt  he  feels  for  him,  if  with 
nothing  worse.  A  little  smiling  and  good-natured 
chaff  when  things  go  wrong,  as  they  so  often  do 
in  travelling,  or  when  the  leisurely  expenditure 
of  time,  which  is  as  natural  to  the  Spaniard  as  it 
is  irritating  to  our  notions  of  how  things  ought  to 
move,  will  go  infinitely  farther  to  set  things  right 
than  black  looks  and  a  scolding  tongue,  even  in 
an  unknown  language. 

When  English  people  come  back  from  Spain 


42  Spanish  Life 

complaining  of  discourtesy,  or  what  they  choose 
to  call  insult,  I  know  very  well  on  whose  head  to 
fit  the  accusing  cap,  and  it  is  always  those  people 
whose  super-excellent  opinion  of  themselves,  and 
of  their  infinite  importance  at  home,  makes  them 
certain  of  meeting  with  some  such  experience 
among  a  people  to  whom  the  mere  expression  ' '  a 
snob  "  is  by  no  means  to  be  understood. 

That  railway  travelling  in  Spain  calls  for  a  great 
exercise  of  patience  from  those  accustomed  to  Fly- 
ing Dutchmen  and  such-like  expresses  is  quite 
true;  though,  by  the  way,  many  of  the  lines  are 
in  French  hands,  and  served  by  French  officials. 
It  may  safely  be  said,  however,  even  at  the  present 
day,  that  those  who  are  always  in  a  hurry  would 
do  well  to  choose  some  other  country  for  their 
holiday  jaunt.  A  well-known  English  engineer, 
of  French  extraction,  trying  to  get  some  business 
through  in  Madrid,  once  described  himself  as  feel- 
ing "  like  a  cat  in  hell,  without  claws."  Perhaps 
the  ignorance  of  the  language,  which  constituted 
his  clawless  condition,  was  a  fortunate  circum- 
stance for  him.  But  that  was  a  good  while  ago, 
and  Madrid  moves  more  quickly  now. 

Another  characteristic  of  the  Spaniard  which 
awakens  the  respect  and  admiration  of  those  who 
know  enough  of  his  past  and  present  history  to 
be  aware  of  it  is  his  courage:  not  in  the  least  re- 
sembling the  excitement  and  rush  of  mere  con- 
flict, nor  the  theatrical  display  of  what  goes  by 
the  name  of  ' '  glory  ' '  among  some  of  his  neigh- 


National  Characteristics         43 

hours;  but  the  cool  courage,  the  invincible  deter- 
mination which  holds  honour  as  the  ideal  to  be 
followed  all  the  same  whether  or  not  any  person 
beyond  the  actor  will  know  of  it,  and  an  unques- 
tioning obedience  to  discipline,  which  call  forth 
the  ungrudging  admiration  of  Englishmen,  proud 
as  we  are  of  such  national  stories  as  that  of  our 
own  Little  Revenge,  The  Wreck  of  the  " Birken- 
head,"  or  of  "  plucky  little  Maf eking,"  amongst 
hundreds  of  others.  Spaniards  are  rich  in  such 
inspiring  memories,  reaching  from  the  earliest 
days  of  authentic  history  to  the  terrible  episodes  of 
the  late  war  with  America.  The  story  of  Cerve- 
ra's  fleet  at  Santiago  de  Cuba  is  one  to  make  the 
heart  of  any  nation  throb  with  pride  in  the  midst 
of  inevitable  tears. 

Again  and  again  in  reading  Spanish  history  do 
we  come  upon  evidences  of  this  nobility  of  courage 
and  disinterested  patriotism.  It  was  the  Spaniard 
Pescara  who  brushed  the  French  army  of  observa- 
tion from  the  line  of  the  Adda,  and  marched  his 
own  forces  and  the  German  troops  to  the  relief  of 
Pavia.  All  were  unpaid,  unclothed,  unfed;  yet 
when  an  appeal  was  made  to  the  Spaniards,  Hume 
tells  us  that  they  abandoned  their  own  pay  and 
offered  their  very  shirts  and  cloaks  to  satisfy  the 
Germans,  and  ' '  the  French  were  beaten  before 
the  great  battle  was  fought."  They  did  precisely 
the  same  in  the  days  of  Mendizabal. 

Again,  in  the  height  of  Barbarossa's  power, 
when  Charles  V.,  hoisting  the  crucifix  at  his  mast- 


44  Spanish  Life 

head,  led  his  crusading  Spaniards  against  Goletta, 
and  it  fell,  after  a  month's  desperate  siege,  with- 
out pause  or  rest  the  troops,  half  dead  with  heat 
and  thirst,  pressed  on  to  Tunis  to  liberate  twenty 
thousand  Christian  captives.  It  was  a  splendid 
achievement,  for  the  campaign  was  fought  in  the 
fierce  heat  of  an  African  summer.  Every  barrel 
of  biscuit,  every  butt  of  water,  had  to  be  brought 
by  sea  from  Sicily,  and  as  there  were  no  draught 
animals,  the  soldiers  themselves  dragged  their 
guns  and  all  their  provisions.  It  is,  as  we  well 
know,  no  light  task  to  find  six  weeks'  supply  for 
thirty  thousand  men  with  all  our  modern  advan- 
tages; but  these  Spaniards  did  it  when  already 
exhausted,  half  fed,  burnt  up  by  the  fierce  African 
sun,  and  in  face  of  an  enemy  well  supplied  with 
artillery  and  ammunition. 

In  the  miserable  time  of  Philip  II.,  a  garri- 
son of  two  hundred  men  held  out  for  months 
against  a  Turkish  army  of  twenty  thousand  men 
at  Mers-el-Keber;  and  the  same  heroic  story  is 
repeated  at  Malta,  when  the  enemy,  after  firing 
sixteen  thousand  cannon  shots  in  one  month 
against  the  Christian  forts,  abandoned  the  siege 
in  despair.  Meanwhile  the  unspeakable  bigot, 
Philip,  was  wasting  his  time  in  processions,  roga- 
tions, and  fasts,  for  the  relief  of  the  town,  while 
he  stirred  no  finger  to  help  it  in  any  effective 
manner. 

These  are  stories  by  no  means  few  and  far  be- 
tween; the  whole  history  of  the  race  is  full  of 


National  Characteristics         45 

such.  We  read  of  one  town  and  garrison  of  eight 
thousand  souls,  abandoned  by  their  king,  starved, 
and  without  clothes  or  ammunition.  Reduced  at 
last  to  two  thousand  naked  men,  they  stood  in  the 
breach  to  be  slain  to  a  man  by  the  conquering 
Turk.  Conqueror  only  in  name,  after  all;  for  he 
who  conquers  is  he  who  lives  in  history  for  a  great 
action,  and  whose  undaunted  courage  fires  other 
souls  long  after  he  is  at  rest. 

"  But  all  this  is  very  ancient  history,  of  the 
days  of  Spain's  greatness;  now  she  is  a  decadent 
nation,"  says  the  superficial  observer.  The  col- 
umn of  the  Dos  de  Mayo  on  the  Prado  of  Madrid, 
with  its  yearly  memorial  mass,  shows  whether  that 
spirit  is  dead,  or  in  danger  of  dying.  The  second 
of  May  is  well  called  the  "Day  of  Independence"  ; 
it  was,  in  fact,  the  inauguration  of  the  War  of 
Independence,  in  which  Spain  gained  enough 
honour  to  satisfy  the  proudest  of  her  sons.  The 
French  had  entered  Madrid  under  pretence  of  be- 
ing Spain's  allies  against  Portugal,  and  Murat, 
once  settled  there  to  his  own  perfect  satisfaction, 
made  no  secret  of  his  master's  intention  to  annex 
the  whole  peninsula.  The  imbecile  King,  Charles 
IV.,  had  abdicated;  his  son,  Ferdinand  VII.,  was 
practically  a  captive  in  France.  The  country 
had,  in  fact,  been  sold  to  Napoleon,  neither  more 
nor  less,  by  the  infamous  Godoy,  favourite  of  the 
late  King. 

A  riot  broke  out  among  the  people  on  discover- 
ing that  the  French  were  about  to  carry  off  the 


46  Spanish  Life 

Spanish  Infantes.  The  blood  of  some  compara- 
tively innocent  Frenchmen  was  shed,  and  the 
base  governor  and  magistrates  of  Madrid  allowed 
Murat  to  make  his  own  terms,  which  were  nothing 
less,  in  fact,  than  the  dispersion  of  the  troops,  who 
were  ordered  to  clear  out  of  their  barracks,  and 
hand  them  over  to  the  French.  The  two  artillery 
officers,  Daoiz  and  Valarde,  with  one  infantry 
officer  named  Ruiz,  and  a  few  of  the  populace,  re- 
fused, and,  all  unaided,  attempted  to  hold  the 
barracks  of  Monteleon  against  the  French  army 
of  invasion!  The  end  was  certain;  but  little 
recked  these  Spaniards  of  the  old  type.  Daoiz 
and  Valarde  were  killed,  the  former  murdered  by 
French  bayonets  after  being  wounded,  on  the 
cannon  by  which  they  had  stood  alone  against 
the  whole  power  of  the  French  troops;  Ruiz  also 
was  shot.  On  the  following  day,  Murat  led  out 
some  scores  of  the  patriots  who  had  dared  to  op- 
pose him,  and  shot  them  on  the  spot  of  the  Prado 
now  sacred  to  their  memory.  Thus  was  the  torch 
of  the  Peninsular  War  lighted.  As  one  man  the 
nation  rose ;  the  labourer  armed  himself  with  his 
agricultural  implements,  the  workman  with  his 
tools;  without  leaders,  nay,  in  defiance  of  those 
who  should  have  led  them,  the  people  sprang  to 
action,  and,  with  England's  help,  the  usurper  was 
driven  from  the  throne  of  France,  and  finally 
caged  in  St.  Helena.  But  it  is  never  forgotten 
that  Spain — these  two  or  three  sons  of  hers  pre- 
ferring honour  to  life — has  the  glory  of  having 


National  Characteristics         47 

been  the  first  to  oppose  and  check  the  man  and 
the  nation  that  aspired  to  tyrannise  over  Europe. 

It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  the  conduct  of 
every  individual  in  Cervera's  fleet  at  Santiago  de 
Cuba  showed  that  the  Spaniard's  magnificent 
courage,  his  absolute  devotion  to  duty,  and  his  dis- 
regard of  death  are  no  whit  less  to-day  than  when 
those  two  thousand  naked  men  stood  in  the  breach 
to  be  slain  in  the  name  of  their  country's  honour. 
The  Oquendo,  already  a  wreck,  coming  quietly 
out  of  her  safe  moorings  in  obedience  to  the  insane 
orders  of  the  Government  in  Madrid,  steering  her 
way  with  absolute  coolness  so  as  to  clear  the 
sunken  Diamante,  to  face  certain  and  hideous 
death,  is  a  picture  which  can  never  fade  from 
memory.  It  was  said  at  the  time  by  their  enemies 
that  there  was  not  a  man  in  the  Spanish  fleet  that 
did  not  deserve  the  Victoria  Cross;  and  this  was 
all  the  more  true  because  there  was  not  even  a 
forlorn  hope:  it  was  obedience  to  orders  in  the 
absolute  certainty  of  death,  and,  what  was  harder 
still,  with  full  knowledge  of  the  utter  useless- 
ness  of  the  sacrifice. 

It  is  difficult  to  imagine  that  anyone  can  read 
the  record  of  this  heroic  passage  in  the  history  of 
the  Spain  of  to-day  without  a  throb  of  admiration 
and  pity.  No  wonder  that  the  generous  enemy 
went  out  of  their  way  to  do  honour  to  the  melan- 
choly remnant  of  heroes  as  they  mounted  the  sides 
of  the  American  ironclads,  prisoners  of  war. 

Cervantes  gave  to  the  world  a  new  adjective 


48  Spanish  Life 

when  he  wrote  his  romance  of  The  Ingenious  Gen- 
tleman of  La  Mancha — a  world  in  which  the  fili- 
busters are  those  of  commerce,  the  pirates  those 
of  trade.  When  we  English  call  an  action  "quix- 
otic," we  do  not  exactly  mean  disapproval,  but 
neither,  certainly,  do  we  intend  admiration ;  un- 
less it  be  that  of  other-worldliness  which  it  is  well 
to  affect,  however  far  we  may  be  from  practising 
it  ourselves.  It  is,  at  best,  something  quite  un- 
necessary, if  acknowledged  to  be  admirable  in  the 
abstract.  The  quixotic  are  rarely  successful,  and 
success  is  the  measure  by  which  everything  is 
judged  to-day.  Be  that  as  it  may,  the  more  in- 
timately one  knows  Spain,  the  more  one  becomes 
aware  that  what  is  with  us  an  amiable  quality  of 
somewhat  dubious  value,  is  one  of  those  which  go 
to  make  up  the  Spaniard  in  every  rank  of  life. 
His  chivalry,  his  fine  sense  of  honour,  are  nothing 
if  not  quixotic,  as  we  understand  the  word ;  and 
just  as  in  Scotland  alone  does  one  appreciate  the 
characters  in  Sir  Walter  Scott's  novels,  so  in  Spain 
does  one  feel  that,  with  due  allowance  for  a  spirit 
of  kindly  caricature,  Don  Quijote  de  la  Mancha 
is  not  only  possible,  but  it  is  a  type  of  character 
as  living  to-day  as  it  was  when  the  genius  of  Cer- 
vantes distilled  and  preserved  for  all  time  that 
most  quaint,  lovable,  inconsequent,  and  chival- 
rous combination  of  qualities  which  constitute  a 
Spanish  gentleman.  Among  her  writers,  her 
thinkers,  her  workers — nay,  even  now  and  then 
among  her  politicians — we  come  upon  traits  which 


National  Characteristics         49 

remind  us  vividly  of  the  ingenious  gentleman 
and  perfect  knight  of  romance. 

But  this  estimate  of  the  Spanish  character 
differs  a  good  deal  from  the  pictures  drawn  of  it 
by  the  casual  tourist;  and  it  is  scarcely  surprising 
that  it  should  be  so.  It  has  been  well  said  that 
"the  contrast  between  the  ideal  of  honour  and 
the  practice  of  pecuniary  corruption  has  always 
been  a  peculiar  feature  of  Spain  and  her  settle- 
ments." If  we  hear  one  thing  oftener  than  an- 
other said  of  Spain,  it  is  fault-finding  with  her 
public  men;  the  evils  of  bribery,  corruption,  and 
self-seeking  amongst  what  should  be  her  states- 
men, and,  above  all,  her  Government  employees, 
are  pointed  out,  and  by  none  more  than  by  Span- 
iards themselves.  There  is  a  good  deal  of  truth 
at  the  bottom  of  these  charges;  they  are  the 
melancholy  legacy  of  the  years  of  misrule  and  of 
the  darkness  through  which  the  country  has 
struggled  on  her  difficult  way.  No  one  looks  for 
the  highest  type  of  character  in  any  country 
among  its  party  politicians.  The  creed  that  good 
becomes  evil  if  it  is  carried  out  under  one  regime, 
and  evil  good  under  another,  is  not  calculated  to 
raise  the  moral  perception ;  and  it  is  only  when  a 
politician  has  convictions  and  principles  which 
are  superior  to  any  office-holding,  and  will  break 
with  his  party  a  hundred  times  sooner  than  stul- 
tify his  own  conscience,  that  he  earns  the  respect 
of  onlookers.  There  are,  and  have  been,  many 
such  men  among  the  politicians  of  Spain  whose 


50  Spanish  Life 


names  remain  as  watchwords  with  her  people; 
but  they  have  too  often  stood  alone,  and  were  not 
strong  enough  to  leaven  the  mass  and  raise  the 
whole  standard  of  political  integrity.  Some  of 
the  highest  and  best  men,  moreover,  have  thrown 
down  their  tools  and  withdrawn  from  contact 
with  a  life  which  seemed  to  them  tainted.  But 
because  Spain  has  done  much  in  overthrowing 
her  evil  rulers  and  is  struggling  upwards  towards 
the  light,  we  expect  wonders,  and  will  not  give 
time  for  what  must  always  be  a  slow  and  difficult 
progress. 

In  Spain,  everyone  is  a  politician.  The  school- 
boy, who  with  us  would  be  thinking  of  nothing 
more  serious  than  football,  aspires  to  sum  up  the 
situation  and  give  his  opinion  of  the  public  men 
as  if  he  were  an  ex- prime  minister  at  least.  These 
orators  of  the  cafes  and  the  street  corners  are  de- 
lighted to  find  a  foreigner  on  whom  they  can  air 
their  unfledged  opinions,  and  the  traveller  who 
can  speak  or  understand  a  few  words  of  Spanish 
comes  back  with  wonderful  accounts  of  what  ' '  a 
Spaniard  whom  I  met  in  the  train  told  me."  In 
any  case,  no  one  ever  says  as  hard  things  of  his 
countrymen  as  a  Spaniard  will  say  of  those  who 
do  not  belong  to  the  particular  little  political 
clique  which  has  the  extreme  honour  of  counting 
himself  as  one  of  its  number.  These  cliques — for 
one  cannot  call  them  parties — are  innumerable, 
called,  for  the  most  part,  after  one  man,  of  whom 
no  one  has  heard  except  his  particular  friends, 


National  Characteristics         51 

Un  Senor  muy  conocido  en  su  casa,  sobre  todo  d  la 
hora  de  comer,  as  their  saying  is:  "A  gentleman 
very  well  known  in  his  own  house,  especially  at 
dinner-time." 

Ford  is  answerable  for  many  of  the  fixed  ideas 
about  Spain  which  it  seems  quite  impossible  to  re- 
move. Much  that  may  have  been  true  in  the  long 
ago,  when  he  wrote  his  incomparable  Guide  Book, 
has  now  passed  away  with  the  all-conquering 
years;  but  still  all  that  he  ever  said  is  repeated 
in  each  new  book  with  unfailing  certainty.  Much 
as  he  really  loved  Spain,  it  must  be  confessed  that 
he  now  and  then  wrote  of  her  with  a  venom  and 
bitterness  quite  at  variance  with  his  usual  manner 
of  judging  things.  It  is  in  great  part  due  to  him 
that  so  much  misunderstanding  exists  as  to  the 
Spanish  custom  of  "offering"  what  is  not  in- 
tended to  be  accepted.  If  that  peculiarity  ever 
existed — for  my  part,  I  have  never  met  with  it  at 
any  time — it  does  so  no  longer.  When  a  Spaniard 
speaks  of  his  house  as  that  of  ' '  your  Grace ' '  (su 
casa  de  Usted*),  it  is  simply  a  figure  of  speech, 
which  has  no  more  special  meaning  than  our  own 
"  I  am  delighted  to  see  you,"  addressed  to  some 
one  whose  existence  you  had  forgotten,  and  will 
forget  again ;  but  nothing  can  exceed  the  gener- 
ous hospitality  often  shown  to  perfect  strangers 
in  country  districts  where  the  accommodation  for 
travellers  is  bad,  when  any  real  difficulty  arises. 

It  is  customary,    for  instance,    in  travelling, 
when  you  open  your  luncheon-basket,  to  offer  to 


52  Spanish  Life 

share  its  contents  with  any  strangers  who  may 
chance  to  be  fellow-passengers.  Naturally,  it  is 
merely  a  form  of  politeness;  and,  in  an  ordinary 
way,  no  one  thinks  of  accepting  it — everyone  has 
his  own  provision,  or  is  intending  to  lunch  some- 
where on  the  way ;  but  it  is  by  no  means  an  empty 
form.  If  it  should  chance,  by  some  accident,  that 
you  found  yourself  without — as  has  happened  to 
me  in  a  diligence  journey  which  lasted  twenty 
hours  when  it  was  intended  only  to  occupy  twelve 
— the  Spanish  fellow-travellers  will  certainly  in- 
sist on  your  accepting  their  offer.  Also,  if  they 
should  be  provided  with  fresh  fruit — oranges, 
dates,  or  figs — and  you  are  not,  their  offer  to 
share  is  by  no  means  made  with  the  hope  or  ex- 
pectation that  you  will  say  Muchas  gracias,  the 
equivalent  of  "  No,  thank  you." 

What  is  really  difficult  and  embarrassing  some- 
times is  to  avoid  having  pressed  on  your  accept- 
ance some  article  which  you  may  have  admired, 
in  your  ignorance  of  the  custom,  which  makes  it 
the  merest  commonplace  of  the  Spaniard  to  "place 
it  at  your  disposition,"  or  .to  say:  "  It  is  already 
the  property  of  your  Grace."  Continued  refusal 
sometimes  gives  offence.  The  custom  of  never 
doing  to-day  what  you  can  quite  easily  put  off 
till  to-morrow  is,  unfortunately,  still  a  common 
trait  of  Spanish  character;  but  as  the  Spaniard  is 
rapidly  becoming  an  alert  man  of  business,  it  is 
not  likely  that  that  will  long  remain  one  of  the 
national  characteristics.  Time  in  old  days  seemed 


National  Characteristics         53 

of  very  little  value  in  a  country  where  trade  was 
looked  upon  as  a  disgrace,  or  at  least  as  unfitting 
any  one  to  enter  the  charmed  circle  of  the  first 
Grandeza;  but  that  is  of  the  past  now  in  Spain, 
as  in  most  countries.  To  be  sure,  it  has  not  there 
become  fashionable  for  ladies  to  keep  bonnet-shops 
or  dress-making  establishments,  nor  to  open  after- 
noon tea-rooms  or  orchaterias,  still  less  to  set  up 
as  so-called  financiers,  as  it  has  with  us.  How- 
ever, even  that  may  come  to  pass  in  the  struggle 
for  'V/high  life,"  of  which  some  of  the  Spanish 
writers  complain  so  bitterly.  Imagination  abso- 
lutely refuses,  however,  to  see  the  Spanish  woman 
of  rank  in  such  surroundings. 

For  the  rest,  the  Spanish  woman,  wherever  you 
meet  her,  and  in  whatever  rank  of  society,  is  de- 
vout, naturally  kind-hearted  and  sympathetic, 
polite,  and  entirely  unaffected;  a  good  mother, 
sister,  daughter;  hard-working  and  frugal,  if  she 
be  of  the  lower  class;  fond  above  all  things  of 
gossip,  and  of  what  passes  for  conversation ;  light- 
hearted,  full  of  fun  and  harmless  mischief;  born 
a  coquette,  but  only  with  that  kind  of  coquetry 
which  is  inseparable  from  unspoiled  sex,  with  no 
taint  of  sordidness  about  it ;  and,  before  all  things, 
absolutely  free  from  affectation.  Their  own  ex- 
pression, muy  simpatica,  gives  better  than  any 
other  the  charm  of  the  Spanish  woman,  whether 
young  or  old,  gentle  or  simple. 

It  was  the  possession  of  all  these  qualities  in  a 
high  degree  by  Dona  Isabel  II.  that  covered  the 


54  Spanish  Life 

multitude  of  her  sins,  and  made  all  who  came 
within  her  influence  speak  gently  of  her,  and 
think  more  of  excuses  than  of  blame.  It  is  these 
qualities  which  give  so  much  popularity  to  her 
daughter,  the  Infanta  Isabel,  who,  like  her 
mother,  is  above  all  things  muy  Espanola.  That 
the  Spanish  woman  is  passionate,  goes  without 
saying;  one  only  has  to  watch  the  quick  flash  of 
her  eye — "throwing  out  sparks,"  as  their  own 
expression  may  be  translated — to  be  aware  of  that. 
While  the  eyes  of  the  men  are  for  the  most  part 
languid,  only  occasionally  flashing  forth,  those 
of  the  women  are  rarely  quiet  for  a  moment ;  they 
sparkle,  they  languish,  they  flame  —  a  whole 
gamut  of  expression  in  one  moment  of  time ;  and 
it  must  be  confessed  that  they  look  upon  man  as 
iheir  natural  prey. 


CHAPTER  IV 

SPANISH  SOCIETY 

THERE  is  something  specially  charming  about 
Spanish  society,  its  freedom  from  formality, 
the  genuine  pleasure  and  hospitality  with  which 
each  guest  is  received,  and  the  extreme  simplicity 
of  the  entertainment.  In  speaking,  however,  of 
society  in  Madrid  and  other  modern  towns,  it  must 
be  remembered  that  the  old  manners  and  customs 
are  to  a  great  extent  being  modified  and  assimi- 
lated with  those  of  the  other  Continental  cities. 
A  great  number  of  the  Spanish  nobility  spend  the 
season  in  Paris  or  in  L,ondon  as  regularly  as  any 
of  the  fashionable  people  in  France  or  England. 
There  is  no  country  life  in  Spain,  as  we  under- 
stand the  word ;  those  of  the  upper  ten  thousand 
who  have  castles  or  great  houses  in  the  provinces 
rarely  visit  them,  and  still  more  rarely  entertain 
there.  A  hunting  or  a  shooting  party  at  one  of 
these  is  quite  an  event;  so  when  the  great  people 
leave  Madrid,  it  is  generally  to  enter  into  London 
or  Paris  society,  and,  naturally,  when  they  are  at 
home  they  to  a  great  extent  retain  cosmopolitan 
customs.  At  the  foreign  legations  or  ministries 
55 


56  Spanish  Life 

also,  society  loses  much  of  its  specially  Spanish 
character. 

The  word  tertulia  simply  means  a  circle  or 
group  in  society;  but  it  has  come  to  signify  a 
species  of  "At  Home"  much  more  informal 
than  anything  we  have  in  the  way  of  evening 
entertainment.  The  tertulia  of  a  particular  lady 
means  the  group  of  friends  who  are  in  the  habit 
of  frequenting  her  drawing-room.  The  Salon  del 
Prado  is  the  general  meeting-place  of  all  who  feel 
more  inclined  for  al fresco  entertainment  than  for 
close  rooms,  and  the  different  groups  of  friends 
meeting  there  draw  their  chairs  together  in  small 
circles,  and  thus  hold  their  tertulia.  The  old 
Countess  of  Montijo  was  so  much  given  to  open- 
handed  hospitality,  and  it  was  so  easy  for  any 
English  person  to  obtain  an  introduction  to  her 
tertulia,  that  her  daughter,  the  Empress  Eugenie, 
used  to  call  it  the  Prado  cubierto — "only  the  Prado 
with  a  roof  on."  It  is  not  customary  for  any- 
thing but  the  very  lightest  of  refreshments  to  be 
offered  at  the  ordinary  tertulia,  and  this  is  one  of 
its  great  charms,  for  little  or  no  expense  is  in- 
curred, and  those  who  are  not  rich  can  still  wel- 
come their  friends  as  often  as  they  like  without 
any  of  the  terrific  preparations  for  the  entertain- 
ment which  make  it  a  burden  and  a  bore,  and 
without  a  rueful  glance  at  the  weekly  bill  after- 
wards. Occasionally,  chocolate  is  handed  round, 
and  any  amount  of  tumblers  of  cold  water.  The 
chocolate  is  served  in  small  coffee-cups,  and  is  of 


Spanish  Society  57 

the  consistency  of  oatmeal  porridge ;  but  it  is  de- 
licious all  the  same,  very  light  and  well  frothed 
up.  It  is  "  eaten  "  by  dipping  little  finger-rusks 
or  sponge-chips  into  the  mixture,  and  you  are  ex- 
tremely glad  of  the  glass  of  cold  water  after  it. 
This  is,  however,  rather  an  exception ;  lemonade, 
azucarillas  and  water,  or  tea  served  in  a  separate 
room  about  twelve  o'clock,  is  more  usual.  The 
azucarilla  is  a  confection  not  unlike  "  Edinburgh 
rock,"  but  more  porous  and  of  the  nature  of  a 
meringue.  You  stir  the  water  with  it,  when  it 
instantly  dissolves,  flavouring  the  water  with 
vanilla,  lemon,  or  orange,  as  well  as  sugar. 
Sometimes  you  are  offered  meringues,  which  you 
eat  first,  and  then  drink  the  water. 

I  have  a  very  perfect  recollection  of  my  first 
tertulia  in  Madrid,  when  I  was  a  very  young  girl. 
We  had  been  asked  to  go  quite  early,  as  we  were 
the  strangers  of  the  evening.  Between  seventy 
and  eighty  guests  dropped  in,  the  ladies  chiefly 
in  morning  dress,  as  we  understand  the  word.  A 
Spanish  lady  never  rises  to  receive  a  gentleman ; 
•  but  when  any  ladies  entered  the  large  drawing- 
room  where  we  were  all  seated,  every  one  rose  and 
stood  while  the  new  arrivals  made  the  circuit  of 
the  room,  shaking  hands  with  their  friends  or 
kissing  them  on  both  cheeks,  and  giving  a  some- 
what undignified  little  nod  to  those  whom  they 
did  not  know.  The  first  time  every  one  rose  I 
thought  we  were  going  to  sing  a  hymn,  or  take 
part  in  some  ceremony;  but  as  it  had  to  be 


58  Spanish  Life 

repeated  each  time  a  lady  entered  the  room,  I  be- 
gan to  wish  they  would  all  come  at  once.  As  soon 
as  the  dancing  began,  however,  this  ceremony 
was  discontinued.  When  you  are  introduced  to  a 
partner,  the  first  thing  he  does  is  to  inquire  your 
Christian  name ;  from  that  time  forth  he  addresses 
you  by  it,  as  if  he  had  known  you  from  infancy, 
and  in  speaking  to  him  you  are  expected  to  use 
his  surname  alone.  If  there  be  more  than  one 
brother,  you  address  the  younger  one  as  ' '  Ar- 
turo,"  "  Ramon,"  or  whatever  his  Christian  name 
may  be.  The  diminutives  are,  however,  almost 
always  used — Pacquita,  Juanito,  etc.,  in  place  of 
Francisca  or  Juan.  Even  the  middle-aged  and 
old  ladies  are  always  spoken  to  by  their  Christian 
names,  and  it  is  quite  common  to  hear  a  child  of 
six  addressing  a  lady  who  is  probably  a  grand- 
mother as  ' '  Luisa  "  or  "  Mariquita. ' ' 

Between  the  dances  the  pauses  were  unusually 
long,  but  they  were  never  spent  by  the  ladies  sit- 
ting in  rows  round  the  walls,  while  the  men 
blocked  up  the  doorways  and  looked  bored. 
There  were  no  "  flirting  corners,"  and  sitting  out 
on  the  stairs  a  deux  would  have  been  a  compromise. 
The  whole  company  broke  up  into  little  knots  and 
circles,  the  chairs,  which  had  been  pushed  into 
corners  or  an  ante-room,  were  fetched  out,  and 
the  men,  without  any  sort  of  shyness,  generally 
seated  themselves  in  front  of  the  ladies,  and  kept 
up  a  perfectly  wild  hubbub  of  conversation  until 
the  music  for  the  next  dance  struck  up.  Dowagers 


Spanish  Society  59 


and  duenas  were  few;  they  sat  in  the  same  spot 
all  the  evening,  and  asked  each  other  what  rent 
they  paid,  how  many  chimeneas  (fireplaces)  they 
had,  whether  they  burned  wood  or  coal,  and  la- 
mented over  the  price  of  both.  They  reminded 
one  irresistibly  of  the  ' '  two  crumbly  old  women ' ' 
in  Kavanagh  ' '  who  talked  about  moths,  and  cheap 
furniture,  and  the  best  cure  for  rheumatism. ' ' 

The  dances  were  the  same  as  ours,  with  some 
small  differences:  the  rigodon  is  a  variation  of  the 
quadrille,  and  the  lancers  are  slightly  curtailed. 
There  was  a  decided  fancy  for  the  polka  and  a 
species  of  mazurka,  which  I  remembered  having 
learned  from  a  dancing-master  in  the  dawn  of  life, 
under  some  strange  and  forgotten  name.  Span- 
iards dance  divinely — nothing  less.  They  waltz 
as  few  other  men  do,  a  very  poetry  of  motion,  an 
abandonment  of  enjoyment,  as  if  their  soul  were 
in  it,  especially  if  the  music  be  somewhat  languid. 
This  is  especially  the  case  with  the  artillery 
officers,  who  are  great  favourites  in  society,  and 
belong  exclusively  to  the  upper  ranks. 

I  have  described  this  tertulia  at  length  because 
it  was  a  typical  one  of  many.  The  cotillon  was 
a  great  favourite,  and  generally  closed  the  even- 
ing. I  always  had  an  idea  that  one  cause  of  its 
popularity  was  the  extended  opportunities  it  gave 
for  a  couple  who  found  each  other's  company 
pleasant  to  enjoy  it  without  much  interference. 
It  rather  made  up  for  the  loss  of  the  staircase  and 
the  window-seats,  or  balconies,  dear  to  Knglish 


60  Spanish  Life 

dancers.  The  rooms  are  generally  kept  in  a 
stifling  state  of  heat,  a  thick  curtain  always  hang- 
ing over  the  door,  and  never  an  open  window  or 
any  kind  of  ventilation;  this,  however,  does  not 
inconvenience  the  Spaniard  in  the  least.  It  is 
usual  to  smoke  during  the  intervals  of  the  dances 
• — cigarettes  as  a  rule;,  but  I  have  often  known  a 
man  to  lay  his  cigar  on  the  edge  of  a  table,  and 
give  it  a  whiff  between  the  rounds  of  a  valse  to 
keep  it  going. 

This,  however,  is  the  Spanish  tertulia.  You 
are  "offered  the  house  "  once  and  for  always,  and 
told  the  evenings  on  which  your  hostess  "re- 
ceives," generally  once,  sometimes  many  more 
times  in  the  week:  then  you  drop  in,  without 
further  invitation,  whenever  you  feel  inclined; 
after  the  opera,  or  on  the  days  when  there  is  no 
opera,  or  on  your  way  from  the  theatre,  or  at  any 
hour.  This  sort  of  visiting  puts  an  end  to  what 
we,  by  courtesy,  call  "  morning  calls."  There  is 
always  conversation  to  any  amount,  generally 
cards,  music,  and,  when  there  are  sufficient  young 
people,  a  dance. 

There  is  no  exclusiveness  and  no  caste  about 
Spanish  society;  all  the  houses  are  open,  and  the 
guests  are  always  welcome.  There  are,  of  course, 
the  houses  of  the  nobility,  and  there  are  many 
grades  in  this  Grandeza,  some  being  of  very  re- 
cent creation,  others  of  the  uncontaminated  sangre 
azul ;  but  there  is  no  hard-and-fast  line.  The 
successful  politician  or  the  popular  writer  has  the 


Spanish  Society  61 

entree  anywhere,  and  there  is  no  difficulty  about 
going  into  the  very  best  of  the  Court  society,  if 
one  has  friends  in  that  tertulia.  One  guest  asks 
permission  to  present  his  or  her  friend,  the  per- 
mission is  courteously  granted,  and  the  thing  is 
done.  Poets  and  dramatists  are  in  great  request 
in  Madrid  society.  It  is  the  custom  to  ask  them 
to  recite  their  own  compositions,  and  as  almost 
every  Spaniard  is  a  poet,  whatever  else  he  may 
be,  there  is  no  lack  of  entertainment.  All  the 
popular  authors — Campoamor,  Nunez  de  Arce, 
Pelayo,  Valera,  and  many  others — may  thus  be 
heard;  but  the  paid  performer  (so  common  in 
London  drawing-rooms)  of  music,  light  drama, 
or  poetical  recitation,  is  probably  absolutely  un- 
known in  Madrid  society. 

During  the  season  balls  are  given  occasionally 
at  the  Palace,  and  at  the  houses  of  the  great  no- 
bility, the  Fernan-Nunez,  the  Romana,  the  Medi- 
naceli,  and  others,  whose  names  are  as  well  known 
in  Paris  and  London  as  in  Madrid.  Dinner-parties 
are  also  becoming  much  more  common  in  private 
houses  than  they  were  before  the  Restoration,  and 
as  for  public  dinners,  they  are  so  frequent  that 
they  bid  fair  to  become  of  the  same  importance  as 
the  like  institution  in  England.  Costume  balls, 
dances,  dinners,  and  evening  entertainments 
among  the  corps  diplomatique  abound.  Everyone 
in  Madrid  has  a  box  or  stall  at  the  Teatro  Real, 
or  opera-house,  and  many  ladies  make  a  practice 
of  ' '  receiving ' '  in  their  palcos ;  and  in  the  en- 


62  Spanish  Life 

trance-hall,  after  the  performance  is  over,  an  hour 
may  be  spent,  while  ostensibly  waiting  for  car- 
riages, in  conversation,  gossip,  mild  flirtation,  and 
generally  making  one's  self  agreeable  among  the 
groups  all  engaged  in  the  same  amusement. 
Almost  everyone,  also,  whatever  his  means  may 
be,  has  an  abono  at  one  or  other  of  the  numerous 
theatres,  sometimes  at  more  than  one;  and  if  it 
be  a  box,  the  subscribers  take  friends  with  them, 
or  receive  visits  there.  It  is  a  common  thing, 
either  in  the  opera-house  or  in  the  theatres,  for  a 
couple  of  friends  to  join  in  the  abono  ;  in  this  case 
it  is  arranged  on  which  nights  the  whole  box  or 
the  two  or  three  stalls  shall  be  the  property  of 
each  in  turn.  Besides  paying  for  the  seats,  there 
is  always  a  separate  charge  each  night  made  for 
the  entrada — in  the  Teatro  Real  it  is  a  peseta  and 
a  half,  in  the  others  one  peseta.  By  this  arrange- 
ment anyone  can  enter  the  theatre  by  paying  the 
entrada,  and  take  chance  of  finding  friends  there, 
frequently  spending  an  hour  or  so  going  from  one 
box  to  another.  All  this  gives  the  theatre  more 
the  air  of  being  an  immense  "At  Home"  than 
what  we  are  accustomed  to  in  England.  The  in- 
tervals between  the  acts  are  very  long,  and,  as  all 
the  men  smoke,  somewhat  trying. 

Spanish  women  are  great  dressers,  and  the  cos- 
tumes seen  at  the  race-meetings  at  the  Hippo- 
drome, and  in  the  Parque,  are  elaborately  French, 
and  sometimes  startling.  The  upper  middle  class 
go  to  Santander,  Biarritz,  or  one  of  the  other 


Spanish  Society  63 

fashionable  watering-places,  and  it  is  said  of  the 
ladies  that  they  only  stop  as  many  days  as  they 
can  sport  new  costumes.  If  they  go  for  a  fort- 
night they  must  have  fifteen  absolutely  new 
dresses,  as  they  would  never  think  of  putting  one 
on  a  second  time.  They  take  with  them  immense 
trunks,  such  as  we  generally  associate  with  Ameri- 
can travellers;  these  are  called  mundos  (worlds) 
— a  name  which  one  feels  certain  was  given  by 
the  suffering  man  who  is  expected  to  look  after 
them. 

There  are  many  little  details  in  Spanish  life, 
even  of  the  upper  classes,  which  strike  one  as 
odd.  One,  for  instance,  is  the  perfect  sangfroid 
with  which  they  pick  their  teeth  in  public;  but 
so  little  is  this  considered,  as  with  us,  a  breach  of 
good  manners,  that  the  dinner-tables  are  supplied 
with  dainty  little  ornaments  filled  with  tooth- 
picks, and  these  are  handed  round  to  the  guests 
by  the  waiters  towards  the  close  of  the  meal.  Nor 
is  it  an  unknown  thing  for  a  Spanish  lady  to  spit. 
I  have  seen  it  done  out  of  a  carriage  window  in 
the  fashionable  drive  without  any  hesitation.  At 
the  same  time,  as  one  of  the  great  charms  of  a 
Spanish  woman  is  the  total  absence  in  her  of  any- 
thing savouring  of  affectation,  one  would  far 
sooner  overlook  customs  that  are  unknown  in 
polite  society  with  us  than  have  them  lose  their 
own  characteristics  in  an  attempt  to  imitate  the 
social  peculiarities  of  other  nations  that  have 
incorporated  the  ominous  word  "  snob"  in  their 


64  Spanish  Life 

vocabularies.  It  has  no  equivalent  in  the  lan- 
guage of  Castile,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  will  never 
be  borrowed.  Nevertheless,  a  recent  Spanish 
writer  laments  the  fact  that  in  the  race  for  "el 
high  life"  his  fellow-countrywomen  "are  not 
ashamed  to  drink  whisky!"  We  have  yet  to 
learn  that  whisky-drinking  among  women  is  an 
element  of  good  style  in  any  class  of  English 
society.  The  idea  that  Spanish  ladies  were  in 
the  habit  of  smoking  in  past  times  is  a  mistake. 
If  they  do  so  now  it  is  an  instance  of  the  race  for 
'Whigh  life,"  of  which  the  writer  quoted  above 
complains. 

In  imitation  of  foreign  customs,  many  of  the 
ladies  in  Madrid  and  the  more  modern  cities  have 
established  their  "day"  for  afternoon  visitors. 
After  all,  this  is  but  the  Spanish  tertulia  at  a  dif- 
ferent hour,  but  if  it  should  ever  supersede  the 
real  evening  tertulia  it  will  be  a  thousand  pities; 
it  would  be  far  more  sensible  if  we  were  to  adopt 
the  Spanish  custom,  rather  than  that  they  should 
follow  ours.  In  the  evening,  the  hour  varying, 
of  course,  with  the  time  of  year,  all  Madrid  goes 
to  drive,  ride,  or  walk  in  the  Buen  Retire,  now 
called  the  Parque  de  Madrid.  It  is  beautifully 
laid  out,  with  wide,  well-kept  roads  and  well- 
cared-for  gardens;  it  has  quite  superseded  the 
Paseo  de  la  Fuente  Castellano,  which  used  to  be 
the  "  Ladies'  Mile  "  of  Madrid. 

Madrid  is  a  city  of  which  one  hears  the  most 
contradictory  accounts.  The  mere  traveller  not 


Spanish  Society  65 

uncommonly  pronounces  it  "disappointing,  un- 
interesting, less  foreign  than  most  Continental 
capitals," — "everything  to  be  seen  at  best  second- 
rate  France,"  etc.,  etc.  The  Museo,  of  course, 
must  be  admired, — even  the  most  ignorant  know 
that  to  contemn  that  is  to  write  themselves  down 
as  Philistines; — but  for  the  rest,  they  confess  them- 
selves glad  to  escape,  after  two  or  three  days  spent 
in  L,a  Corte,  to  what  they  fancy  will  prove  more 
interesting  towns,  or,  at  any  rate,  to  something 
which  they  hope  will  be  more  characteristic.  But 
those  who  settle  in  Madrid,  or  know  it  well,  win- 
ter and  summer,  and  have  friends  among  its 
hospitable  people,  come  to  love  it,  one  might 
almost  say,  strangely,  because  it  is  not  the  love 
that  springs  from  habit  or  mere  familiarity,  but 
something  much  warmer  and  more  personal.  One 
charm  it  has,  which  is  felt  while  there  and  pleas- 
antly remembered  in  absence — its  much-maligned 
climate.  The  position  of  Madrid  at  the  apex  of 
a  high  table-land,  two  thousand  one  hundred  and 
sixty  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  with  its  wide 
expanse  of  plain  on  every  hand  but  that  on  which 
the  Guadarramas  break  the  horizon  with  their 
rugged,  often  snow-capped,  peaks,  naturally  ex- 
poses it  to  rapid  changes  of  temperature ;  that  is 
to  say,  that  if  the  snow  is  still  lying  on  the  Sierra, 
and  the  wind  should  chance  to  blow  from  that 
direction  on  Madrid,  which  is  steeped  in  sun- 
shine winter  and  summer  for  far  the  greater  part 
of  the  year,  there  is  nothing  to  break  its  course, 


66  Spanish  Life 

and  naturally,  a  Madrilefio,  crossing  from  the 
sheltered  corner,  where  he  has  been  "  taking  the 
sun,"  to  the  shady  side  of  the  street  and  the  full 
force  of  the  chilly  blast,  will  be  very  likely  to 
"catch  an  air,"  as  the  Spaniard  expresses  it. 
But  that  tan  sulil  aire  de  Madrid,  which  Ford 
seems  to  have  discovered,  and  which  every  guide- 
book and  slip-shod  itinerary  has  ever  since  quoted, 
might  very  well  now  be  allowed  to  find  a  place  in 
the  limbo  of  exploded  myths;  it  has  done  far  more 
than  its  duty  in  terrifying  visitors  quite  need- 
lessly. That  pulmonia  fulminante  (acute  pneu- 
monia) is  a  very  common  disease  among  the  men 
of  Madrid,  there  is  no  doubt,  and  in  the  days  when 
Ford  wrote,  they  were  no  doubt  immediately 
bled,  and  so  hastened  on  their  way  out  of  this 
troublesome  world  by  the  doctors;  but  one  has 
not  very  far  to  seek  for  the  cause  of  this  scourge 
when  one  notices  the  habits  of  the  Madrilefio. 
In  the  first  place  he  hates  nothing  quite  so  much 
as  fresh  air,  and  the  cafes,  clubs,  taverns,  and 
places  where  he  resorts  are  kept  in  such  a  state 
of  heated  stuffiness  that  it  seems  scarcely  an 
exaggeration  to  say  that  the  air  could  be  cut  out 
in  junks,  like  pieces  of  cake.  If  he  travel  by 
train,  all  windows  must  be  kept  closely  shut, 
while  he  smokes  all  the  time.  When,  at  last,  it 
is  necessary  to  brave  the  outer  air  in  order  to 
reach  home,  he,  carefully  and  before  leaving  the 
vitiated  atmosphere  he  has  been  breathing,  en- 
velops himself  in  his  cloak,  throwing  the  heavy 


Spanish  Society  67 

cape,  generally  lined  with  velvet  or  plush,  across 
his  mouth  and  nose,  barely  leaving  his  eyes 
visible;  he  thus  has  three  or  four  folds  of  cloth 
and  velvet  as  a  respirator.  It  often  happens  that 
at  the  corner  of  some  street  the  long  arm  of  the 
icy  "  Guadarrama  "  reaches  him;  a  sudden  gust 
of  wind  plucks  off  his  respirator,  and  the  mischief 
is  done.  But  should  he  reach  the  safe  closeness 
of  his  own  house,  he  has  certainly  done  his  level 
best  to  charge  his  lungs  with  unwholesome  and 
contaminated  air. 

You  have  only  to  see  the  women  on  the  coldest 
day  in  winter  with  nothing  over  their  heads  but 
a  silk  or  lace  mantilla,  or  a  mere  velo  of  net,  and 
the  working-women  with  nothing  but  their  mag- 
nificent hair,  or,  at  most,  a  kerchief,  to  be  certain 
that  it  is  not  the  "  air  "  that  is  to  blame.  I  have 
seen  the  women  going  about  Madrid  in  winter, 
both  by  day  and  night,  when  the  men  were 
muffled  to  the  eyes,  with  thicker  dresses,  of 
course,  and  perhaps  a  fur  cape,  but  no  sort  of 
wrap  about  their  head  or  throat;  andpulmonta  is 
comparatively  unknown  among  women.  To  Eng- 
lish people,  accustomed  to  plenty  of  fresh  air  and 
water,  Madrid  has  never  been  an  unhealthy  place, 
and  it  is  extremely  probable  that  one  of  these 
days  our  doctors  will  be  sending  their  consump- 
tive patients  there  for  the  winter.  They  might 
easily  do  worse. 

One  of  the  coldest  winters  I  remember  in  Ma- 
drid, a  young  Englishman  came  out  with  a  letter 


68  Spanish  Life 

of  introduction  from  friends.  He  looked  as  if  he 
had  not  .many  weeks  to  live,  and  in  truth  he  was 
condemned  by  his  doctors,  and  his  hours  were 
numbered.  He  was  a  Yorkshireman  by  birth, 
but  had  some  years  past  developed  seeds  of  con- 
sumption. He  had  been  sent  year  after  year  to 
Madeira  and  other  of  the  old  resorts,  having  been 
told  that  a  winter  in  England  would  certainly 
finish  him.  Finally,  he  made  his  doctors  tell 
him  the  truth:  it  was  that  he  had  not  many 
months,  perhaps  not  many  weeks,  to  live. 

"  Very  well,  then,"  he  replied,  "  there  is  no  use 
worrying  any  more  about  my  health.  I  shall  do 
my  best  to  enjoy  the  little  time  I  may  have  left." 
He  threw  all  his  medicines  and  remedies  out  of  the 
window,  he  looked  out  for  the  most  unhealthy 
place  he  could  find,  where  he  would  be  most  cer- 
tain of  never  meeting  another  consumptive  pa- 
tient; and  in  the  course  of  the  search  he  came 
across  the  well-worn  chestnut  about  the  air  of 
Madrid.  "That  is  the  place  for  me,"  he  ex- 
claimed; "only  strong  and  healthy  people  can 
live  there.  At  any  rate,  so  long  as  I  do  live,  I 
shall  be  amongst  sound  lungs,  and  shall  see  no 
more  fellow-sufferers.  The  aire  tan  sutil  will  kill 
me,  and  that  will  be  the  end  of  the  matter. ' '  So 
far  from  killing  him,  the  fine  champagne-like  air 
of  Madrid  went  as  near  curing  him  as  was  possible 
for  a  man  with  only  one  lung.  He  took  no  pre- 
cautions, never  wrapped  up,  went  out  at  night  as 
well  as  by  day,  and  when  he  died,  fourteen  years 


Spanish  Society  69 

later,  it  was  not  of  consumption.  He  used  to 
come  to  Madrid  for  the  winter  to  escape  the  damp 
of  England,  and  revelled  in  the  warmth  and  fresh- 
ness of  that  sun-steeped  air. 

The  climate  of  Madrid  has  sensibly  altered 
since  I  have  known  it,  and  will  continue  to  do  so 
as  vegetation  increases  and  trees  spring  up  and 
grow  to  perfection  within  and  around  it.  In  the 
old  times,  before  the  splendid  service  of  water  of 
the  L,ozoya  Canal  was  in  common  use,  the  air  was 
so  dry  as  to  make  one's  skin  uncomfortable,  and 
one's  hair  to  break  off  into  pieces  like  tinder  under 
the  brush;  there  was  also  a  constant  thickening 
in  the  throat,  causing  slight  discomfort,  and  a 
penetrating,  impalpable  dust  which  nothing  ever 
laid,  and  which  formed  a  veritable  cloud  reaching 
far  above  the  heads  of  the  promenaders  in  the 
Salon  del  Prado.  A  very  short  time  changed  all 
this.  Twice  a  day  the  streets  were  watered  with 
far-reaching  hose,  a  constant  stream  ran  about 
the  stems  of  the  trees  in  the  Prado,  gardens  were 
planted  and  constantly  watered,  and  while  the 
hitherto  barren,  dust-laden  places  began  to  blos- 
som as  the  rose,  the  air  itself  became  softer,  less 
trying,  and,  perhaps,  there  is  rather  more  uncer- 
tainty about  the  weather,  or  at  any  rate  a  greater 
rainfall.  At  one  time  there  were  but  two  rainy 
seasons — spring  and  autumn — and  never  a  cloud 
in  between.  For  about  three  days  clouds  would 
be  gathering  gradually  in  the  sky,  beginning 
with  one  literally  "  no  bigger  than  a  man's  hand." 


70  Spanish  Life 

Whenever  there  was  a  cloud,  you  might  be  cer- 
tain of  rain,  past  or  to  come.  Then  one  day, 
when  there  was  no  longer  any  blue  to  be  seen,  the 
heavens  opened  and  the  rain  came  down.  There 
could  be  no  mistake  about  it.  When  it  rains  or 
thunders  in  Madrid,  it  tries  to  get  it  all  over  as 
quickly  as  possible.  There  is  nothing  like  doing 
a  thing  well  when  you  are  about  it,  and  Madrid 
thoroughly  understands  this  matter  of  rain.  It 
never  ceases,  never  tempts  people  to  go  out  and 
then  drowns  them.  No,  if  you  go  out,  it  is  with 
a  thorough  understanding  of  what  you  are  under- 
taking; and  if  you  are  disposed  to  be  critical  about 
anything  in  the  municipal  management  of  La 
Corte  now,  try  to  imagine  what  it  was  when  the 
water  from  the  roofs  was  carried  out  in  wide  pipes 
a  few  feet  from  the  edge,  and  allowed  to  pour  on 
the  heads  of  the  defenceless  foot-passengers,  or 
almost  to  break  in  the  roof  of  carriage  or  cab 
which  had  to  pass  under  them.  This  is  the  time 
to  learn  why  the  bridges  over  the  Manzanares 
are  so  wide  and  so  strong;  not  one  whit  too  much 
of  either,  if  they  are  to  withstand  the  mighty  on- 
rush. We  used  to  go  off  to  the  Casa  de  Campo 
the  moment  the  rain  was  over,  for  the  sake  of  see- 
ing Madrid  as  one  never  sees  it  at  other  times — 
its  magnificent  Palace  crowning  the  steep  bluff, 
round  which  a  mighty  river  is  rushing  to  the  sea. 
The  rain  lasts  a  week,  a  fortnight,  or  even 
more,  and  then  the  sky  takes  at  least  three  days 
to  clear,  during  which  it  resembles  our  English 


Spanish  Society  71 

white-flecked  blue,  or  its  hurrying  grey  masses, 
and  the  cloud-shadows  fly  over  the  wide  land- 
scape, now  all  suddenly  changed  to  verdure,  and 
lie  on  the  distant  sierra,  giving  an  unwonted 
charm  to  the  scene.  The  Casa  de  Campo,  the 
Florida,  and  all  green  spots  become  carpeted  with 
wild  flowers;  the  trees  seem  to  have  put  on  new 
leafage,  so  fresh  are  they  and  free  from  the  over- 
loading of  dust.  And  then,  gradually,  the  Man- 
zanares  repents  him  of  his  anger  and  haste;  no 
more  foam  is  dashing  against  the  piers  of  the 
bridges,  no  more  crested  waves  are  hurrying  be- 
fore the  wind;  he  sinks  gently  and  slowly  back 
to  his  accustomed  lounging  pace,  "  taking  the 
sun"  with  lazy  ease  once  more;  and  the  washer- 
women come  down  and  resume  their  labours  under 
the  plane  trees;  and  there  is  no  more  thought  of 
rain  for  many  a  week,  perhaps  month,  to  come; 
and  that  strangely  deep,  impenetrable  vault  of  a 
blue  unknown  elsewhere  spreads  its  canopy  over 
a  clean,  rain-washed  city. 

The  Parque  de  Madrid,  which  lies  high  above 
the  Prado,  affords  a  striking  view  of  the  country 
on  all  sides.  An  Englishman  of  wide  Continental 
experience,  describing  this  prospect,  says  he  was 
"  more  than  recompensed  by  the  sudden  appari- 
tion, through  an  opening  between  the  houses,  of 
the  exquisite  campagna  that  surrounds  Madrid,, 
.  .  .  Compared  with  that  of  Rome,  it  seemed 
to  me  clearer,  and  more  extensive,  while  the  hue 
of  the  atmosphere  that  overspread  it  was  of  a  rich 


72  Spanish  Life 

purple."  I  have  quoted  these  remarks  because 
it  is  so  rare  for  English  visitors,  accustomed  to 
the  lush  green  of  our  own  meadows  and  woods, 
to  find  anything  to  admire  in  what  is  too  often 
.called  the  "  mangy,"  or  at  best  the  "  arid,"  sur- 
roundings of  the  capital  of  Spain.  This,  how- 
ever, was  written  in  September,  and  there  had 
been  heavy  rains;  after  the  crops  are  gathered 
and  before  the  autumn  rains  come  on,  the  prospect 
is  scarcely  so  much  to  be  admired.  That  the 
view  is  extensive,  no  one  can  deny ;  there  is  un- 
broken horizon,  except  where  the  rugged  peaks 
of  the  Guadarramas  pierce  the  sky,  and  the  at- 
mospheric effects  are  often  marvellously  beauti- 
ful, especially  when  the  swift  shadows  of  clouds 
pass  over  the  wide  landscape,  or  lie  upon  the 
"everlasting  hills." 

For  myself,  this  vast  expanse,  with  the  sense  of 
immensity  which  we  generally  are  only  able  to 
associate  with  the  sea,  has  always  had  an  extra- 
ordinary charm.  I  have  seen  it  at  all  times  of  the 
year,  early  in  the  morning,  and  at,  or  just  before, 
sundown — nay,  even  once  or  twice  by  moonlight, 
or  with  the  marvellous  blue  vault  overhead,  that 
seems  so  much  higher  and  greater  there  than  else- 
where, studded  with  planet  and  star,  luminous 
beyond  all  that  we  know  in  our  little  island, 
where  the  blue  is  so  pale  by  comparison,  and  the 
atmosphere  laden  with  moisture  when  we  think 
it  most  clear.  I  do  not  remember  elsewhere  in 
Spain,  or  in  any  other  country,  such  a  depth  of 


Spanish  Society  73 

sky  or  such  brilliancy  of  moon  and  star  light  as 
in  Madrid,  where  it  is  as  easy  to  read  by  night  as 
by  day  on  some  occasions. 

Given  plenty  of  water,  and  Madrid  is  an  ideal 
place  for  flowers.  Such  carnations  as  those  which 
are  grown  in  the  nursery  gardens  there  are  never 
seen  elsewhere — they  are  a  revelation  in  horticul- 
ture ;  nor  are  the  roses  any  less  wonderful.  The 
bouquet  with  which  a  Spaniard,  whether  hidalgo 
or  one  of  your  servants,  greets  your  birthday  is 
generally  a  pyramid  almost  as  tall  as  yourself. 
It  needs  to  be  placed  in  a  large  earthenware  jar 
on  the  floor,  and  if  you  should  be  happy  enough 
to  have  a  good  many  friends,  there  is  scarcely 
room  for  anything  else  in  your  gabinete.  The 
flowers  one  can  raise  in  a  balcony  in  Madrid 
merely  by  using  plenty  of  water,  syringing  the 
dust  off  the  leaves,  and  shading  them  occasionally 
from  the  worst  heat,  are  more  than  equal  to  any- 
thing a  hothouse  in  England  can  produce.  An 
idea  may  be  formed  of  the  really  marvellous  fer- 
tility of  the  soil  and  climate  by  the  rapidity  with 
which  seeds  develop.  I  remember  one  summer, 
when  some  of  the  new  gardens  were  being  laid 
out  in  the  Buen  Retiro,  a  grand  concert  and 
eveningy?/^  was  to  be  given  as  the  opening  func- 
tion. On  the  evening  before  this  entertainment 
was  to  take  place  we  happened  to  be  near,  and 
strolled  in  to  see  how  the  preparations  were  going 
on.  The  gravel  walks  were  all  there,  the  stands 
for  the  bands,  the  Chinese  lanterns  hanging  from 


74  Spanish  Life 

the  trees,  but  where  was  the  grass  ?  Alas!  wher- 
ever it  ought  to  have  been  were  to  be  seen 
brown,  sad-looking  patches  of  bare  earth,  not  a 
blade  springing  anywhere;  what  was  worse,  an 
army  of  gardeners  were,  at  that  moment  only, 
sowing  the  seed  in  some  patches,  while  others 
were  being  rolled,  and  watered  with  hose.  Cosa 
de  Espana !  of  course.  It  had  been  put  off  to 
manana,  until  now  there  might  be  fete,  but  no 
gardens.  The  following  evening,  when  in  com- 
pany with  all  Madrid  we  went  to  the  concert, 
behold  a  transformation!  Soft,  green,  velvety 
sward — not  to  be  walked  on,  it  is  true,  but  lovely 
to  behold — covered  the  patches  so  absolutely  bald 
twenty-four  hours  ago.  The  seed  we  had  seen 
sown  had  sprung  up  as  thickly  as  finest  cut  velvet. 
Cosa  de  Espana,  indeed !  It  is  not  always  in  Spain 
— the  land  of  the  unexpected — that  Manana  vere- 
mos  is  foolishness. 

Until  after  Christmas  the  winter  in  Madrid  is 
charming,  even  if  it  be  cold;  the  glorious  sun- 
shine from  dawn  to  sunset,  the  fine  exhilarating 
air,  raise  one's  spirits  unconsciously;  but  very 
often  the  old  year  is  dead  before  any  real  cold 
comes  on.  I  have  sat  out  in  the  Buen  Retiro 
many  a  day  in  December  with  book  or  work,  and 
scarcely  any  more  wrap  than  one  wears  in  sum- 
mer in  England.  After  that  there  is  generally  a 
cold,  and  perhaps  disagreeable,  spell,  when  the 
wind  comes  howling  across  the  plains  straight 
from  the  snow  and  ice,  and  the  Madrileno  thinks 


Spanish  Society  75 

it  terrible ;  as  a  matter  of  fact,  so  long  as  the  sky 
remains  clear,  there  is  always  one  side  of  the 
street  where  one  can  be  warm.  Sometimes,  but 
not  often,  the  cold  weather  or  the  bitter  winds 
last  pretty  far  into  the  spring,  and  it  has  certainly 
happened  in  the  depth  of  the  frost  that  one  of  the 
sentries  on  duty  at  the  Palace,  on  the  side  facing 
the  mountains,  was  found  frozen  to  death  when 
the  relief  came.  After  that  the  watch  was  made 
shorter,  and  the  change  of  guard  more  frequent 
in  winter.  I  have  seen  the  Estanque  Grande  in 
the  Retire  covered  with  ice  several  inches  thick; 
but  as  all  Madrid  turned  out  to  see  the  wonder 
and  watch  the  foreigners  skate,  a  thing  that  ap- 
peared never  to  have  been  seen  before,  it  could 
not  have  been  a  very  common  occurrence. 

Riding  early  in  the  morning  in  winter  outside 
Madrid,  even  with  the  sun  shining  brightly  and 
a  cloudless  sky,  the  cold  was  often  intense,  espe- 
cially in  the  dells  and  hollows.  We  have  often  had 
to  put  our  hands  under  the  saddle  to  keep  them 
from  freezing,  so  as  to  be  able  to  feel  the  reins, 
and  if  I  were  riding  with  the  sun  on  the  off-side, 
my  feet  would  become  perfectly  dead  to  feeling. 
But  what  an  air  it  was !  Something  to  be  remem- 
bered, and  long  before  we  reached  home  we  were 
in  a  delicious  glow.  The  horses,  English  thor- 
oughbreds, enjoyed  it  immensely,  and  went  like 
the  wind.  I  have  been  in  Madrid  in  every  part 
of  the  year,  and  never  found  it  unbearably  hot, 
though  one  does  not  generally  wait  for  July  or 


76 


Spanish  Life 


August ;  but  here  again  the  lightness  and  dryness 
of  the  air  seem  to  make  heat  much  easier  to 
bear.  Numbers  of  Madrid  people  think  nothing 
of  remaining  there  all  the  summer  through. 


CHAPTKR  V 


MODERN   MADRID 

MADRID  has  grown  out  of  all  knowledge  in 
the  last  thirty  years.  No  one  who  had  not 
seen  it  since  the  time  of  Isabel  II.  would  recognise 
it  now,  and  even  then  much  had  been  done  since 
Ferdinand  VII.  had  come  back  from  his  fawning 
and  despicable  captivity  in  France — where  he  had 
gloried  in  calling  himself  a  "  French  prince  " — to 
act  the  despot  in  his  own  country.  The  Liberal 
Ministers  who,  for  short  periods,  had  some  sem- 
blance of  power  during  the  regency  of  Cristina 
had  done  a  little  to  restore  the  civilisation  and 
light  established  by  Charles  III.,  and  wholly 
quenched  in  the  time  of  his  unworthy  and  con- 
temptible successors.  But  even  in  1865,  the 
Alcald  Gate,  standing  where  the  Plaza  de  la  In- 
dependencia  is  now,  formed  one  boundary  of 
Madrid,  the  Gate  of  Atocha  was  still  standing  at 
the  end  of  the  paseo  of  that  name,  and  the  Gate 
of  Sta.  Barbara  formed  another  of  the  limits  of 
the  city.  The  Museo  was  unfinished  and  only 
to  be  entered  by  a  side  door,  encumbered  with 
builders'  rubbish  and  half-hewn  blocks  of  stone. 
77 


78  Spanish  Life 

The  Paseo  of  la  Fuente  Castellana  ended  the 
Prado,  and  not  a  house  was  to  be  seen  beyond 
the  Mint,  or  outside  the  Gate  of  Alcald. 

All  the  town  outside  these  barriers  has  arisen 
since;  the  magnificent  viaduct  across  the  Calle  de 
Segovia,  the  Markets,  the  Parque  de  Madrid,  the 
Hippodrome,  the  present  Plaza  de  Toros,  all  are 
new.  The  old  Bull  Ring  stood  just  outside  the 
Alcala  Gate,  and  all  beyond  it  was  open  country ; 
no  casas  palatias  along  the  Fuente  Castellana,  no 
Barrio  Salamanca.  Madrid  has,  however,  always 
been  a  cheerful,  noisy,  stirring  city,  full  of  life  and 
the  expression  of  animal  spirits.  In  days  not  so 
very  long  past  the  streets  were  filled  with  pic- 
turesque costumes  of  the  provinces,  with  gaily 
decorated  mules  and  donkeys  carrying  immense 
loads  of  hay  or  straw,  or  huge  nets  filled  with 
melons  or  pumpkins,  almost  hiding  everything 
but  the  head  and  the  feet  of  the  animal;  or  a 
smart-looking  "Jacket"  man  from  the  country 
districts  would  go  whistling  by,  Asturians,  Mur- 
cians,  Gallegos,  gypsies,  toreros  in  their  brilliant 
traje  Andaluz — always  to  be  recognised  by  their 
tiny  pigtails  of  hair,  and  by  their  splendidly  lithe 
and  graceful  carriage — all  these  jostling,  singing, 
chaffing  each  other,  while  the  jingling  bells  on  in- 
numerable horses,  mules,  donkeys,  rang  through 
the  sunlit  air,  and  made  the  Puerta  de  Sol  and  the 
streets  branching  from  it  a  constant  scene  of  life 
and  gaiety.  Now  and  then  would  come  the  deep 
clang  of  the  huge  bell  of  the  draught  oxen,  draw- 


Modern  Madrid  79 

ing  their  Old- World  carts,  often  with  solid  discs  of 
wood  for  wheels,  while  the  women  of  the  lower 
class  sported  their  brilliantly  embroidered  Manila 
shawls,  chattered,  and  fluttered  their  gaily-col- 
oured fans  just  like  the  other  senoritas.  Mantil- 
las, even  then,  were  only  to  be  seen  on  old  ladies; 
but  the  smart  little  veto  coquettishly  fastened 
with  a  natural  flower  adorned  all  the  young 
girls — French  millinery,  which  never  suits  a 
Spanish  face,  being  kept  for  the  evening  paseo. 
It  is  a  pity  these  national  costumes  have  gone  out 
of  fashion.  A  Spanish  girl  with  velo  and  fan  is 
something  quite  superior  to  the  same  fascinating 
young  person  dressed  after  the  style  of  Paris — 
with  a  difference;  for  there  is  always  a  difference. 

Madrid,  in  fact,  is  becoming  cosmopolitan,  and 
is  little  to  be  distinguished  from  other  capitals, 
except  in  the  barrios  bajos  on  the  national  fiestas, 
and  wherever  the  country  people,  as  distinguished 
from  the  Madrid  work-people,  congregate.  These 
last  are  rapidly  losing  all  picturesqueness,  dress- 
ing just  as  the  workers  in  any  other  capital  dress. 
They  are,  perhaps,  still  no  less  gatos  (cats),  those 
of  them  at  least  who  have  had  the  honour  of  being 
born  in  L,a  Corte,  this  being  the  name  given  them 
by  their  fellow  country-people. 

If  it  be  meant  as  a  term  of  reproach,  the  Madri- 
leno  has  an  excellent  answer  in  giving  the  history 
of  its  origin.  In  the  reign  of  Alfonso  VI.,  dur- 
ing one  of  the  many  war-like  operations  of  this 
King,  he  wished  to  take  an  important  and  difficult 


8o  Spanish  Life 

fortress,  and  had  collected  all  his  forces  to  at- 
tack it  —  the  Madrilenos  alone  were  late;  it 
was,  in  fact,  only  the  day  before  the  assault  was 
to  take  place  that  they  arrived  upon  the  scene. 
The  King  was  furious,  and  when  their  leader  ap- 
proached his  Majesty  to  know  where  the  troops 
were  to  bivouac  for  the  night,  he  replied  that 
there  was  no  room  in  his  camp  for  laggards; 
pointing  to  the  enemy's  fortress,  he  added:  "  There 
will  be  found  plenty  of  lodging  for  those  who  come 
too  late  for  any  other."  Saluting  his  Majesty 
very  courteously,  the  soldier  withdrew,  under- 
standing thoroughly  the  indirect  sneer  at  the 
valour  of  his  troops;  he  went  back  to  his  regi- 
ment, summoned  his  officers  and  men,  and  re- 
peated to  them  the  King's  word.  One  and  all 
agreed  that  they  would,  in  fact,  seek  their  night's 
lodging  just  where  the  King  had  indicated.  Im- 
possible as  the  feat  appeared,  they  instantly 
rushed  to  the  attack  of  the  formidable  fortress 
with  such  irresistible  dash  that  they  succeeded  in 
scaling  the  walls  and  entering  it,  pikes  in  rest. 
The  King,  who  had  run  forward  as  soon  as  he 
heard  of  the  attack,  watched  with  delight  his 
loyal  Madrilenos  climbing  up  the  face  of  the 
masonry  with  extraordinary  skill,  and  not  a  little 
loss. 

"Look,  look!"  he  cried  to  those  near  him. 
"  See  how  they  climb!  They  are  cats!  " 

The  other  forces  at  once  came  to  their  assist- 
ance, the  fortress  fell  into  the  King's  hands  before 


Modern  Madrid  81 

nightfall,  and  those  who  had  been  in  "  no  hurry  " 
to  join  the  army  found  their  lodgings  within  it, 
as  his  Majesty  had  contemptuously  recommended 
them  to  do.  His  anger  was  forgotten  in  admira- 
tion and  praise;  and,  from  that  time,  all  those 
born  in  Madrid  have  the  right  to  call  themselves 
gatos. 

It  is  curious  how  the  observation  of  those  who 
know  Spain  intimately  differs — one  must  suppose 
according  to  temperament.  Thus  Antonio  Gal- 
lenga,  the  well-known  correspondent  of  the  Times, 
who  really  knew  Spain  well,  has  left  it  on  record 
that  the  people  are  not  musical,  and  that  he  never 
remembers  to  have  heard  any  of  them  singing  in 
the  streets,  or  at  their  work.  I  do  not  know  how 
this  could  have  happened,  unless  our  old  friend 
did  not  recognise  the  singing  he  did  hear  as 
music,  for  which  he  might,  perhaps,  be  forgiven. 
My  own  experience  is  that  the  people  are  always 
singing,  more  or  less,  if  you  agree  to  call  it  so. 
As  the  houses  are  almost  all  built  in  flats,  many 
of  the  windows  open  into  patios,  or  court-yards, 
large  or  small,  as  the  case  may  be.  You  may 
reckon  on  always  having  two  or  three  servants, 
male  or  female,  at  work  in  the  patio,  the  women 
washing  or  scrubbing,  the  men  probably  cleaning 
their  horses,  carriages,  or  harness;  but  whatever 
else  they  may  be  doing,  you  may  be  quite  certain 
they  will  all  be  singing,  though  it  is  equally  cer- 
tain that,  by  the  greatest  exercise  of  amiability, 
you  could  scarcely  call  the  result  a  song;  the 


82  Spanish  Life 

words  seem  to  be  improvised  as  the  performer 
goes  on.  There  was  a  light-hearted  groom  in 
one  of  t\\e  patios  of  our  flat,  in  the  Calle  lyope  de 
Vega,  who  would  continue  almost  without  a 
break  the  whole  day.  An  old  friend  who  used  to 
amuse  himself  by  listening  to  this  remarkable 
performer  declared  that  if  he  started  his  song  in 
the  early  morning  with  a  stick  that  was  thick 
enough,  he  would  go  on  till  midnight  telling  the 
world  in  general  all  the  people  he  had  killed  with 
it,  and  the  other  wonders  of  Hercules  it  had  per- 
formed. 

The  ditty  always  begins  on  a  high  note,  and 
goes  quavering  irregularly  downwards,  with 
infinite  twirls,  shakes,  and  prolonged  notes, 
these  being  sung  to  the  exclamation  "Ay!" 
Minor  keys  enter  a  good  deal  into  this  kind 
of  performance,  and  the  most  remarkable  part 
of  it  is  that  the  singer,  once  having  reached 
the  bottom  of  the  scale — for  there  is  no  end — 
is  able  to  begin  again  on  the  same  high  note, 
and  hit  upon,  more  or  less,  the  same  variations 
a  second  time.  If  you  have  nothing  better  to 
do  than  to  listen  to  some  of  these  improvis- 
atores,  you  will  get  a  long,  and  more  or  less 
connected,  history  of  some  event;  but  it  takes  a 
long  time — and,  perhaps,  is  not  often  worth  the 
expenditure.  The  songs  which  you  hear  to  the 
accompaniment  of  the  guitar  are  different  from 
these,  though  the  introduction  of  the  "  Ay !  "  and 
the  frequent  shakes  and  twirls  are  always  there. 


Modern  Madrid  83 

The  working  Madrileno's  ideal  of  happiness  is 
to  go  a  little  way  along  one  of  the  dusty  caminos 
reales  (highways)  to  some  little  venta,  or  tavern, 
or  to  take  refreshments  out  in  baskets.  They 
will  sit  quite  contentedly  in  the  dust  by  the  side 
of  the  road,  or  in  a  field  of  stubble  or  burnt-up 
grass,  to  eat  and  drink,  and  then  the  guitar  comes 
into  play,  and  the  dancing  begins.  It  is  always 
ih&jota  aragonesa,  which  is  not  so  much  dancing 
as  twirling  about  slowly,  and,  it  would  almost 
seem,  sadly;  but  there  is  always  a  circle  of  ad- 
miring lookers-on,  who  beat  time  with  stamping 
of  feet  and  clapping  of  hands,  and  watch  the  per- 
formance as  eagerly  as  if  there  were  something 
quite  fresh  and  new  about  it.  Occasionally,  these 
parties  go  out  by  omnibus  or  tram,  as  far  as  they 
can,  and  then  start  their  picnic  repast,  to  be  fol- 
lowed by  the  inevitable  dance  and  song,  just 
wherever  they  happen  to  be. 

One  of  the  most  curious  sights  of  Madrid  is  the 
great  wash-tub  of  the  Manzanares.  As  you 
descend  the  steep  bluff  on  which  the  city  stands, 
towards  the  river,  you  find  the  banks  covered 
with  laundresses,  kneeling  at  short  distances 
from  one  another,  each  scrubbing  the  clothes  on 
one  board,  which  slopes  down  into  the  water, 
while  another  board,  fixed  so  as  to  stand  out  into 
the  stream,  or  a  little  embankment  made  of  sand, 
dams  up  the  scanty  supply  of  water  she  can  ob- 
tain. As  the  Manzanares  in  summer  is  divided 
into  a  great  number  of  small  streams,  this  scene 


84  Spanish  Life 

is  repeated  on  the  edge  of  each  one,  while  the  ex- 
panse of  sand  which  occupies  the  centre  of  what 
ought  to  be  the  river-bed  is  one  forest  of  clothes- 
props,  with  all  the  wash  of  Madrid  hanging  on 
the  lines.  On  the  banks  the  children,  in  the 
intervals  of  school,  are  playing  bull-fights,  or 
some  of  their  innumerable  dancing  and  singing 
games;  the  women  are  one  and  all  performing  the 
gradual  descent  of  the  gamut  with  variations 
called  singing;  and  above  all  is  the  glorious  sun, 
transfiguring  all  things,  and  throwing  deep, 
purple  shadows  from  the  high  plane-trees  along 
the  banks. 

The  road  which  runs  along  the  bank  of  the 
Manzanares,  at  the  farther  side  from  Madrid,  is 
a  revelation  to  those  who  only  know  the  plains 
through  which  the  railway  from  the  north  passes, 
and  which  for  the  greater  part  of  the  year,  except 
when  the  crops  are  growing,  are  quite  as  arid  as 
we  are  accustomed  to  suppose.  On  the  left  lies 
the  Casa  de  Campo,  an  immense  extent  of  park, 
containing,  on  the  high  ground,  some  splendid 
specimens  of  the  Scotch  fir,  and,  in  more  sheltered 
spots,  groves  of  beech,  avenues  of  plane,  and 
masses  of  the  dark-leaved  ilex,  which  grows  to 
great  perfection  in  this  climate.  The  ' '  Florida, ' ' 
another  of  the  royal  properties,  lies  to  the  right, 
and  a  splendid  road  shaded  by  majestic  trees,  and 
with  wide,  grassy  margins,  stretches  away  to  the 
village  of  El  Pardillo,  where  Ivongfellow  estab- 
lished his  quarters,  and  which  he  describes  in  his 


Modern  Madrid  85 

Outre  Mer,  and  from  that  on  to  the  forest,  or 
whatever  you  may  call  it,  of  El  Pardo,  where 
there  is  a  royal  residence  now  but  seldom  used, 
you  may  ride  for  many  hours  and  still  find  your- 
self in  this  wild  park,  which  many  of  the  inhabi- 
tants of  Madrid  have  never  seen.  Here  one  can 
realise  a  little  how  the  city  may  have  once  been 
a  hunting  lodge  of  the  Kings,  as  we  are  told. 
The  Pardo  may  be  reached  through  the  Casa  de 
Campo,  a  gate  at  the  extreme  end  of  the  princi- 
pal drive  leading  into  the  forest. 

Up  on  the  high  ground  of  the  Casa  de  Campo 
there  is  a  splendid  view  of  Madrid,  with  the 
Palace  crowning  the  steep  bluff  overhanging  the 
Manzanares.  It  was  in  the  "country  house" 
itself,  near  the  gate,  that  our  "  Baby  Charles"  is 
said  to  have  climbed  the  high  wall  of  the  court- 
yard to  get  a  glimpse  of  the  Infanta  whom  he 
hoped  to  make  his  wife.  When  I  knew  the 
place  intimately,  on  the  very  highest  part  of  the 
Park  was  a  large  enclosure  of  the  wild  forest, 
railed  in  with  high  wooden  palisading.  Within 
this  lived  a  flock  of  ostriches,  belonging  to  the 
Crown.  No  one  seemed  to  know  anything  about 
them,  nor  how  long  they  had  been  there.  What 
puzzled  us  much  was  how  they  were  fed,  or  if 
they  were  left  to  cater  for  themselves.  One  thing 
I  can  answer  for:  they  were  very  wild,  and  very 
ferocious;  the  moment  they  saw  our  horses  com- 
ing up  the  hill  they  would  run  from  all  parts 
of  the  enclosure  trying  their  best  to  get  at  us, 


86  Spanish  Life 

striking  with  their  feet  and  wings,  and  uttering 
gruesome  shrieks.  It  was  one  of  our  amusements 
to  race  them,  keeping  outside  their  high  fence 
while  they  strode  over  the  ground,  their  necks 
stretched  out,  and  their  absurd  wings  flapping 
after  the  manner  of  a  farmyard  gander;  but,  with 
the  best  efforts,  the  horses  were  never  able  to 
keep  up  the  pace  for  long;  the  birds  invariably 
won,  and  we  left  them  screeching  and  using  lan- 
guage that  did  not  appear  to  be  parliamentary, 
when  they  found  that  the  fence  was  the  only 
thing  that  did  not  give  in,  as  they  craned  their 
necks  and  stamped  in  their  baffled  rage.  The 
horses,  at  first  rather  afraid  of  the  birds,  soon 
learned  to  enjoy  the  fun,  and  raced  them  for  all 
they  were  worth.  I  do  not  know  if  this  strange 
colony  is  still  settled  there. 

A  curious  feature  of  Spanish  country  life  to  us 
are  the  goatherds.  Where  the  large  flocks  of 
goats  about  Madrid  pasture,  I  know  not;  but  I 
have  often  seen  them  coming  home  in  the  even- 
ing to  be  milked,  or  starting  out  in  the  morn- 
ing. The  goatherd,  clad  in  his  mania,  and 
carrying  a  long  wand  of  office  over  his  shoulder, 
and  I  think  also  a  horn,  stalks  majestically  along 
with  all  the  dignity  of  a  royal  marshal  of  proces- 
sions, and  the  goats  follow  him,  with  a  good  deal 
of  lagging  behind  for  play,  or  nibbling,  if  they 
should  chance  to  see  anything  green.  Still,  they 
scamper  after  their  generalissimo  in  the  end,  and 
meanwhile  he  is  much  too  dignified  to  look  back. 


Modern  Madrid  87 

Taking  advantage  of  this,  I  have  seen  women 
come  out  of  their  cottages  on  the  roadside  and 
milk  a  goat  or  two  as  it  passed;  and  from  the 
way  the  animal  made  a  full  stop,  and  lent  itself  to 
the  fraud — if  such  it  were — it  was  evidently  a 
daily  occurrence. 

In  times  not  long  past,  if  indeed  they  do  not 
still  exist,  the  dust-heaps  outside  Madrid  were 
the  homes  of  packs  of  lean,  hungry  dogs,  great 
brindled  creatures  of  the  breed  to  be  seen  in 
Velasquez  pictures;  these  animals  prowled  about 
the  streets  of  Madrid  in  the  early  morning,  acting 
as  scavengers.  When  they  became  too  numerous, 
the  civil  guards  laid  poison  about  at  night  in  the 
dust-heaps  before  the  houses,  and  the  very  early 
riser  might  see  four  or  five  of  these  great  creatures 
lying  dead  on  the  carts  which  collect  the  refuse 
of  Madrid  before  the  world  in  general  is  astir. 
These  wild  dogs  were  disagreeable  customers 
to  meet  when  riding  outside  the  city,  until  we 
learned  to  avoid  the  localities  where  they  spent 
their  days,  for  they  would  give  chase  to  the  horses 
if  they  caught  sight  of  them,  and  the  only  thing 
to  be  done  was  to  remain  perfectly  quiet  until 
they  tired  of  barking  and  returned  to  the  dust- 
hills  to  resume  their  search  for  food. 

The  description  of  peasant  life  in  Madrid  would 
be  incomplete  if  we  left  unmentioned  the  daily 
siesta  in  the  sun  of  the  Gallegos  and  lower-class 
working-men.  On  the  benches  in  the  Prado,  on 
the  pavement,  in  the  full  blaze  of  the  sun,  these 


88  Spanish  Life 

men  will  stretch  themselves  and  sleep  for  an  hour 
or  two  after  their  midday  meal.  I  have  seen  the 
Gallego  porters  make  themselves  a  hammock  with 
the  rope  they  always  carry  with  them — mozos  de 
cuerda  they  are  called — literally  slinging  them- 
selves to  the  reja  or  iron  bars  of  the  window  of 
some  private  house,  and  sleep  soundly  in  a  posi- 
tion that  would  surely  kill  any  other  human 
being.  "  Taking  the  sun  "  (tomando  el  sol}  is, 
however,  the  custom  of  every  Spaniard  of  what- 
ever degree. 

The  casual  visitor  to  Madrid  is  always  struck 
with  the  number  of  carriages  to  be  seen  in  the 
paseo ;  but  the  fact  is  that  everyone  keeps  a 
carriage,  if  it  be  at  all  possible,  and  it  is  no  un- 
common thing  for  two  or  three  polios  to  join  to- 
gether in  the  expense  of  this  luxury,  and  a  sight 
almost  unknown  to  us  is  common  enough  in 
Madrid — young  men,  the  "curled  darlings"  of 
society,  lazily  lounging  in  a  Victoria  or  Berlina  in 
what  is  known  as  the  "  Indies'  Mile."  The 
Madrid  polio  is  not  the  most  favourable  speci- 
men of  a  Spaniard  ;  the  word  literally  means  a 
"chicken,"  but  applied  to  a  young  man  it  is 
scarcely  a  complimentary  expression,  and  has  its 
counterpart  with  us  in  the  slang  terms  which 
from  time  to  time  indicate  the  idle  exquisite  who 
thinks  as  much  of  his  dress  and  his  style  as  any 
woman  does  or  more.  The  Madrid  polio  often  is, 
or  ought  to  be,  a  schoolboy,  and  the  younger  he 
is,  naturally,  the  more  conceited  and  impertinent 


Modern  Madrid  89 

he  is.  It  is  curious  that  with  the  feminine  term- 
ination, this  word  Apollo]  loses  all  sense  of  banter 
or  contempt;  it  simply  means  a  young  girl  in  the 
first  charui  of  her  spring-time. 

Riding  in  the  Row  has  always  been  a  favourite 
pastime  in  Madrid,  but  to  English  ideas  the  polio 
is  more  objectionable  there  than  elsewhere,  since 
his  idea  of  riding  is  to  show  off  the  antics  of  a 
horse  specially  taught  and  made  to  prance  about 
and  curvet  while  he  sits  it,  his  legs  sticking  out 
in  the  position  of  the  Colossus  of  Rhodes,  his 
heels,  armed  with  spurs,  threatening  catastrophe 
to  the  other  riders.  An  old  English  master  of 
foxhounds,  who  was  a  frequent  visitor  in  Madrid, 
used  to  compare  the  Paseo  of  the  Fuente  Castel- 
lana  at  the  fashionable  hour  to  a  "chevaux  defrise 
on  horseback. ' '  These  gentlemen  must  not,  how- 
ever, be  supposed  to  represent  Spanish  horseman- 
ship. Ladies  ride  a  good  deal  in  the  Paseo,  but 
one  cannot  call  them  good  horsewomen.  To  get 
into  the  saddle  from  a  chair,  or  a  pair  of  stable 
steps,  and  let  their  steed  walk  up  and  down  for 
an  hour  or  so  in  the  Row,  is  not  exactly  what  we 
call  riding.  If  you  hire  a  carriage  in  Madrid  you 
are  so  smart  that  your  best  friends  would  not 
recognise  you.  A  grand  barouche  and  pair  dashes 
up  to  your  door,  probably  with  a  ducal  coronet 
on  the  panels.  The  coachman  and  footman  wear 
cockades,  and  the  moment  you  appear  they  both 
take  off  their  hats  and  hold  them  in  their  hands 
until  you  are  seated  in  the  carriage.  This  cere- 


90  Spanish  Life 

mony  is  repeated  every  time  you  alight,  the 
coachman  reverently  uncovering  as  you  leave  the 
carriage  or  return  to  it,  as  well  as  the  footman 
who  is  opening  the  door  for  you. 

It  is  most  comforting;  royalty,  I  feel  sure,  is 
nothing  to  it !  We  will  not  look  critically  at  the 
lining  of  the  noble  barouche,  nor  at  the  varnish  on 
its  panels,  still  less  make  disagreeable  remarks 
about  the  liveries,  which  do  not  always  fit  their 
wearers — it  is  economical  to  have  liveries  made  a 
good  medium  size,  so  that  if  the  servants  are 
changed  the  clothes  are  not; — one  can  always  feel 
grateful  for  the  polite  and  agreeable  attendants. 
How  oddly  it  must  strike  the  Spaniards  in  Eng- 
land to  notice  the  stolid  indifference  of  "Jeames 
de  la  Plush,"  and  the  curt  tap  of  his  first  finger 
on  the  brim  of  his  hat  as  his  lady  enters  her  car- 
riage or  gives  her  directions! 

All  the  mules,  and  most  of  the  horses,  ponies, 
or  donkeys  ridden  by  the  "Jacket"  men  or 
country  people  are  trained  to  pace  instead  of  to 
trot;  it  is  said  to  be  less  fatiguing  on  a  long  jour- 
ney. The  motion  as  you  ride  is,  to  our  notions, 
very  unpleasant,  being  a  kind  of  roll,  which  at 
first,  at  any  rate,  gives  one  the  feeling  of  sea- 
sickness. The  animal  uses  the  fore  and  hind  feet 
together  alternately,  as  he  literally  runs  over  the 
ground.  It  does  not  appear  to  be  a  natural  pace, 
but  is  carefully  taught,  and,  once  acquired,  it  is 
very  difficult  to  break  the  animal  of  it;  his  idea  of 
trotting  has  become  quite  lost;  nor  is  it  a  pretty 


Modern  Madrid  91 

action,  nor  one  suited  to  show  off  good  qualities — 
it  has  always  something  of  a  shuffle  about  it.  If 
it  has  its  advantages,  except  that  stirrups  may  be 
dispensed  with,  they  are  not  very  apparent  to 
those  accustomed  to  the  usual  paces  of  an  Knglish 
horse.  Personally,  I  disliked  it  particularly. 

There  have  been  many  efforts  to  introduce 
racing,  with  its  contingent  improvement  in  the 
breed  of  horses,  perhaps  the  earliest  during  the 
regency  of  Espartero;  but  these  ended,  as  most 
things  did  in  the  old  days  when  Spain  was  only 
beginning  her  long  struggle  for  freedom,  in  fail- 
ure and  loss  to  the  enterprising  gentlemen — of 
whom  the  then  Duque  de  Osuna  was  one — who 
spent  large  sums  of  money  in  the  effort.  The 
old  race-course  of  that  time  lay  somewhere  in  the 
low  ground  outside  Madrid  on  the  course  of 
the  Manzanares;  many  a  good  gallop  I  have  had 
on  it,  though  it  was  abandoned  and  forgotten 
long  ago  by  the  Madrilenos.  At  the  present 
time  horse-racing  may  be  said  to  have  become 
naturalised  in  Spain  under  the  Sociedad  del  Fo- 
mento  de  la  Cria  Caballar  (Society  for  the  Encour- 
agement of  Horse-breeding),  and  all  that  concerns 
horsemanship  is  naturally  improved  and  improv- 
ing. 

A  good  idea  of  Spanish  horses  may  be  gained 
by  a  visit  to  the  Royal  Mews  in  Madrid.  There 
are  the  cream-coloured  horses  from  the  royal 
stud  at  Aranjuez,  jacuitas  from  Andalucia,  as 
well  as  the  mountain  ponies  of  Galicia.  Those 


92  Spanish  Life 

who  have  never  seen  the  Spanish  mule  have  no 
idea  what  the  animal  is — powerful,  active,  grace- 
ful, and  almost  impossible  to  injure.  They  are 
used  in  the  royal  stables  and  in  those  of  the 
nobility,  for  night  work,  since  they  are  so  hardy 
as  not  to  be  injured  by  long  waiting  in  the  cold 
or  wet.  They  are  the  correct  thing  in  the  car- 
riages of  the  Papal  Nuncio  and  all  ecclesiastics, 
and  are  generally  preferred  to  horses  for  long  or 
difficult  journeys.  They  are  a  great  feature  in 
the  army;  kept  in  splendid  condition  and  of  great 
size,  they  not  only  drag  the  heavy  guns,  but  in 
the  celebrated  mountain  artillery  each  mule  car- 
ries a  small  gun  on  his  back.  A  brigade  of  this 
arm  would  have  been  invaluable  to  the  British  in 
South  Africa,  having  no  doubt  had  its  initiation  in 
the  guerilla  warfare  of  Spain's  frequent  civil  wars. 
The  clipping  of  mules  and  donkeys,  which  are 
also  very  superior  animals  to  anything  we  know 
by  that  name,  is  in  the  hands  of  the  gypsies,  who 
have  a  perfect  genius  for  decorating  their  own 
animals  and  any  others  committed  to  their  man- 
ipulation. Only  the  upper  part  is  shaved,  or 
clipped  to  the  skin,  the  long  winter  coat  being 
left  on  the  legs  and  half-way  up  the  body.  Gen- 
erally, on  the  shoulders  and  haunches  a  pattern  is 
made  by  leaving  some  of  the  hair  a  little  longer; 
the  figure  of  the  cross  with  rays  is  not  uncommon, 
but  it  is  wonderful  how  elaborate  and  beautiful 
some  of  these  patterns  are,  looking  as  if  embossed 
in  velvet  on  the  skin.  One  day,  passing  a  -venta 


Modern  Madrid  93 

in  a  street  in  Madrid,  we  were  attracted  by  a  gaily- 
decked  donkey  standing  outside.  He  had  the 
words,  Viva  mi  Amo  (L,oug  live  my  Master!), 
finished  with  a  beautiful  and  artistic  scroll  pat- 
tern, in  rich  velvet  across  his  haunches.  While 
we  stood  admiring  this  work  of  art,  the  master 
within  laughingly  warned  us  that  the  ass  kicked 
if  anyone  came  near  him.  Perhaps  the  elaborate 
decoration  was  a  practical  joke! 

The  mules  and  donkeys  which  come  in  from 
the  country  are  generally  very  picturesque,  with 
a  network  of  crimson  silk  tassels  over  their  heads, 
and  a  bright-coloured  mania  thrown  across  their 
sleek,  glossy  backs.  These  manias  serve  many 
purposes;  they  are  made  of  two  breadths  of 
brightly  striped  and  ornamented  material  of  wool 
and  silk,  sewn  up  at  one  end,  or  sometimes  for 
some  distance  at  each  end,  like  a  purse;  some- 
times they  are  thrown  across  the  mule  to  serve  as 
saddle-bags,  sometimes  one  end  is  used  as  a  hood 
and  is  drawn  over  the  master's  head,  while  the 
remainder  is  thrown  across  his  chest  and  mouth 
and  over  the  left  shoulder.  The  best  of  these 
manias  are  elaborately  trimmed  at  both  ends  with 
a  deep  interlacing  fringe,  ending  in  a  close  row  of 
balls,  and  have  a  thick  ornamental  cord  sewn 
over  the  joining.  These,  which  are  intended  for 
human  wraps  and  not  as  saddle-bags,  are  only 
sewn  up  at  one  end,  so  as  to  form  something  very 
like  the  old  monkish  hood.  All  the  horses,  mules, 
donkeys,  and  oxen  wear  bells:  the  oxen  have 


94  Spanish  Life 

generally  only  one  large  bronze  bell,  which 
hangs  under  the  head ;  the  others  have  rows  of 
small  jingling  silver  or  brass  bells  round  their 
collars  or  bridles. 

These  draught  oxen  are  beautiful  animals, 
mostly  a  deep  cream  in  colour,  with  dark  points, 
magnificent  eyes,  and  a  sphinx-like  look  of 
patience,  as  if  biding  their  time  for  something 
much  better  to  come.  Their  harness  is  not  ap- 
parently irksome  to  them,  and  is  not  so  heavy  as 
one  sees  on  the  Portuguese  oxen,  for  instance. 
They  are  coupled  by  a  wooden  bar  across  the 
head,  and  their  driver,  if  such  he  can  be  called — 
rather,  perhaps,  the  guide — walks  in  front  with  a 
long  stick,  possibly  a  wand  of  office,  over  his 
shoulder  to  show  them  the  way.  The  dress  of 
this  functionary  is  picturesque:  a  wide-brimmed 
hat  (sombrero),  a  shirt,  short  trousers  to  the 
knees,  with  gaiters  of  woven  grass  (esparto),  a 
faja  round  his  waist,  and  manta  thrown  over  his 
shoulder  if  cold.  He  stalks  majestically  along, 
followed  by  his  equally  majestic  bueyes,  and  one 
wonders  of  what  all  three  are  thinking  as  they 
trudge  along  the  sun-smitten  roads,  regardless  of 
dust  or  of  anything  else.  The  cars  are  rude 
enough,  and  the  wheels  sometimes  solid  discs  of 
wood.  Occasionally,  a  hood  of  bent  pieces  of 
wood  covered  with  linen  is  fixed.  Tame  oxen,  or 
cabestros,  as  they  are  called,  play  a  very  important 
part  in  the  ganaderos  and  the  bull-rings.  They 
appear  to  be  held  in  some  sort  of  superstitious 


Modern  Madrid  95 

reverence,  or  strange  affection,  by  the  poor  beasts 
who  only  live  to  make  sport  for  men.  In  driving 
the  bulls  from  one  pasture  to  another,  or  bringing 
them  into  the  towns,  the  cabestros  are  followed 
with  unwavering  faith  by  these  otherwise  danger- 
ous animals;  where  the  cabestro  goes,  clanging  his 
great  bell,  the  bull  follows,  and  while  under  the 
charge  of  his  domesticated  friend  he  is  quite 
harmless. 

At  one  time,  the  bulls  used  to  be  driven  to  the 
bull-ring  outside  Madrid  in  specially  made  roads 
sunk  some  fifteen  feet  below  the  level  of  the  fields, 
and  paved.  Along  these  l\\e  pastor,  or  shepherd, 
and  picadores,  armed  with  long  lances,  went  with 
the  cabestros  and  the  herd  of  bulls  to  be  immolated. 
I  have  frequently  met  this  procession  when  riding, 
either  in  the  early  morning  or  late  evening,  out- 
side Madrid;  but  so  long  as  the  cabestros  are 
present,  there  is  nothing  to  fear,  for  the  bulls  are 
perfectly  quiet  and  harmless.  Once,  however, 
riding  with  a  friend,  I  had  a  disagreeable  and' ex- 
citing adventure.  We  were  quietly  walking  our 
horses  along  the  Ronda  de  Alcala,  when  we  heard 
an  immense  amount  of  shouting,  and  suddenly  be- 
came aware  that  we  ourselves  were  the  objects  of 
the  excitement,  waving  of  hands,  screaming,  and 
gesticulating.  Before  we  had  time  to  do  more 
than  realise  that  we  were  being  warned  of  some 
terrific  danger  in  wait  for  us  round  the  corner  of 
the  high  wall,  some  little  distance  in  advance,  two 
picadores  on  horseback,  armed  with  their  long 


96  Spanish  Life 

pikes,  galloped  round  the  corner,  also  shouting 
wildly  to  us,  and  pointing  across  the  fields  as  if 
telling  us  to  fly,  and  almost  at  the  same  moment 
the  whole  drove  of  bulls,  tearing  along  at  a  ter- 
rific rate,  without  cabestros,  appeared,  charging 
straight  towards  us.  We  did  not  need  a  second 
hint.  At  one  side  of  the  road  was  the  old  wall 
of  Madrid,  at  the  other  a  high  bank  with  a 
wide  ditch  beyond  it.  Without  a  word,  we  put 
our  horses  at  the  bank, — they  had  realised  the 
situation  as  quickly  as  we  had, — jumped  the  ditch 
at  a  flying  leap  from  the  top  of  the  bank,  and  were 
off  across  a  field  of  young  wheat.  Once  only  I 
looked  behind,  and  saw  a  magnificent  black  bull, 
with  his  tail  in  the  air — a  signal  of  attack — on 
the  top  of  the  bank  over  which  I  had  just  leaped, 
preparing  to  follow  me.  L,ong  afterwards,  as  it 
seemed,  when  my  horse  slackened  his  pace,  I 
found  myself  alone  in  a  wide  plain,  neither  bulls 
nor  fellow-rider  to  be  seen.  His  horse  had  bolted 
in  another  direction  from  mine,  and  we  heard 
afterwards  that  the  picadores  had  galloped  in  be- 
tween me  and  the  sporting  bull  and  turned  him 
back.  Bventually,  the  cabestros  appeared  on  the 
scene,  and  the  poor  misguided  bulls  were  inveigled 
into  the  shambles  for  theyfoyta  of  the  morrow. 
How  they  had  ever  managed  to  break  away  or 
gain  the  public  road  at  all,  we  were  never  able  to 
learn. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  COURT 

DURING  the  reign  of  Don  Alfonso  XII.,  ex- 
cept during  the  interval  when  the  melan- 
choly death  of  his  first  beloved  Queen,  Mercedes, 
plunged  King,  Court,  and  people  into  mourning, 
Madrid  was  gayer  than  perhaps  it  has  ever  been. 
No  one  loved  ami  sement  better  than  the  young 
King,  who  was  only  seventeen  when  the  military 
pronunciamiento  of  Martinez  Campo  called  him  to 
the  throne  from  which  his  mother  had  been  driven 
seven  years  previously.  He  had  taken  his  people, 
and  indeed  all  the  world,  by  storm,  for  from  the 
first  moment  he  had  shown  all  the  qualities  which 
make  a  ruler  popular,  and  Spain  has  never  had  a 
young  monarch  of  so  much  promise.  He  had  the 
royal  gift  of  memory,  and  an  extraordinary  facil- 
ity in  speaking  foreign  languages;  it  was  said 
that  the  Russian  and  the  Turkish  envoys  were 
the  only  ones  with  whom  he  was  unable  to  con- 
verse as  freely  in  their  languages  as  in  his  own. 
He  was  an  excellent  speaker,  always  knew  the 
right  thing  to  say,  the  best  thing  to  do  to  gain  the 
hearts  of  his  people,  and  to  make  himself  agreeable 

97 


98  Spanish  Life 

to  all  parties  and  all  nationalities  alike.  He 
was  the  first  King  of  Spain  to  address  his  people 
de  usted  in  place  of  de  tu,  a  mark  of  respect  which 
they  were  not  slow  to  appreciate;  he  was  a 
modern,  in  that  he  would  go  out  alone,  either  on 
foot  or  riding,  allowed  applause  in  his  presence 
at  the  theatres,  unknown  before,  and  himself 
would  salute  those  he  knew  from  his  box.  He 
gave  audience  to  all  who  asked,  was  an  early 
riser,  devoted  to  business  when  it  had  to  be  per- 
formed, was  an  enthusiast  in  all  military  matters, 
and,  perhaps,  better  than  all  in  the  eyes  of  his 
people,  he  was  devoted  to  the  bull-ring.  Ex- 
tremely active,  resolute,  firm,  fond  of  all  kinds  of 
active  sports,  such  as  hunting  and  shooting, 
equally  fond  of  society,  picnics,  dances,  and  all 
kinds  of  entertainments,  he  seemed  destined  to 
become  the  idol  of  his  people,  and  to  lead  his  be- 
loved country  back  to  its  place  in  Europe.  His 
death,  when  only  twenty-seven,  changed  all  this. 
Queen  Maria  Cristina  has  been  a  model  wife, 
widow,  mother,  and  Regent.  She  was  devoted 
to  her  husband,  and  though  it  was  said  at  first  to 
be  a  political  marriage,  contracted  to  please  the 
people,  it  was  undoubtedly  a  happy  one.  The 
Queen  has  scarcely  taken  more  part  in  public  life 
during  her  sad  widowhood  than  Queen  Victoria 
did.  She  has  devoted  herself  to  her  public  duties 
as  Regent  and  to  the  education  and  care  of  her 
children. 
Alfonso  XIII.,  born  a  king  after  his  father's 


The  Court  99 

death,  has  always  been  rather  a  delicate  boy;  his 
mother  has  determined  that  his  health  and  his 
education  shall  be  the  first  and  chief  care  of  her 
life,  and  nothing  turns  her  from  this  purpose.  If 
she  has  never  been  exactly  popular,  she  has  at 
least  the  unbounded  respect  and  admiration  of 
the  people.  She  does  not  love  the  "  bulls,"  and, 
therefore,  she  is  not  Espanola  enough  to  awaken 
enthusiasm;  she  keeps  the  boy  King  too  much 
out  of  sight,  so  that  his  people  scarcely  know 
him,  even  in  Madrid;  but  this  is  the  very  utmost 
that  anyone  has  to  say  against  her,  while  all 
shades  of  politicians,  even  to  declared  Repub- 
licans, speak  of  her  with  respect  and  with  real 
admiration  of  her  qualities  of  heart  and  mind. 

All  Court  gaieties  are,  however,  at  an  end. 
Once  a  year  or  so  a  ball  at  the  palace,  a  formal 
dinner,  or  reception,  when  it  cannot  be  avoided — 
that  is  all,  and  for  the  rest  the  Queen  is  rarely 
seen  except  at  religious  ceremonies  or  state  func- 
tions, and  the  King,  never.  He  is  supposed  to 
take  his  amusements  and  exercise  in  the  Casa  de 
Campo,  and  rarely  crosses  Madrid. 

Numerous  stories  used  to  be  told  of  his  pre- 
cocity as  a  child,  and  of  his  smart  sayings;  some- 
times of  his  generosity  and  sympathy  with  the 
poor  and  suffering.  Now  one  is  told  he  is  some- 
what of  a  pickle,  but  fables  about  royalty  may 
always  be  received  with  more  than  a  grain  of 
salt.  One  of  the  stories  told  of  him,  which  ought 
to  be  true,  since  it  has  the  ring  of  childhood  about 


ioo  Spanish  Life 

it,  is  well  known.  When  a  small  boy,  his  Aus- 
trian governess,  of  whom  he  was  very  fond, 
reproved  him  for  using  his  knife  in  place  of  a 
fork.  "Gentlemen  never  do  so,"  she  said. 
"  But  I  am  a  King,"  he  replied.  "  Kings,  still 
less,  eat  with  their  knives, ' '  said  the  governess. 
' '  This  King  does, ' '  was  the  composed  reply  of  the 
child. 

The  etiquette  of  the  Spanish  Court,  although  it 
was  much  modified  by  Alfonso  XII.,  is  still  very 
formal.  A  perfectly  infinite  number  of  mayor- 
domos,  caballerizos,  gentiles  hombres  de  casa  y  boca, 
ujieres,  alabarderos,  monleros,  aides-de-camp, 
Grandes  de  Espana  de  servido,  ladies-in-waiting, 
lackeys,  servants,  and  attendants  of  every  pos- 
sible description  abound.  A  man  going  to  an 
audience  with  royalty  uncovers  as  he  enters  the 
Palace.  First,  he  will  find  the  alabardero  de 
servido  placed  at  the  entrance  of  the  vestibule; 
farther  on,  more  alabarderos.  Whenever  a  Grande 
de  Espana,  a  prelate,  a  grand  cross,  or  a  title  of 
Castile  passes,  these  guards  strike  the  marble 
floor  with  their  arms — a  noise  which  may  well 
cause  the  uninitiated  to  start.  Three  halls  are 
used  for  grouping,  according  to  their  rank,  those 
who  are  about  to  be  presented:  first,  the  saleta, 
where  ordinary  people — all  the  world,  in  fact — 
wait;  next,  the  cdmara,  for  those  who  have  titles 
or  wear  the  grand  cross;  third,  the  antecdmara, 
reserved  for  the  Grandes  of  Spain,  and  gentiles 
hombres  en  ejerdo.  The  Grandes  of  Spain,  cham- 


The  Court  101 

berlains  of  the  King,  share  between  them  the 
service  of  his  Majesty.  They  are  called  in  rota- 
tion, one  day's  notice  being  given  before  they  are 
expected  to  attend  in  the  Palace.  In  the  ante- 
chamber of  the  King  there  is  always  the  Grande 
in  waiting,  the  lady-in-waiting  on  the  Queen,  two 
aides-de-camp,  and  a  gentil  hombre  del  interio 
(the  last  must  not  be  confounded  with  the  gentiles 
hombres  en  ejercio,  who  have  the  right  to  enter  the 
ante-chamber).  There  are,  of  course,  equerries 
(caballerizos)  who  attend,  as  ours  do,  on  horse- 
back, when  the  King  or  Queen  goes  out;  but  the 
most  essentially  Spanish  attendants  are  the  Mon- 
teros  de  Espinosa,  who  have  the  exclusive  right 
to  watch  while  Royalty  sleeps.  These  attendants 
must  all  be  born  in  Espinosa;  it  is  an  hereditary 
honour,  and  the  wives  of  the  existing  Monteros 
are  careful  to  go  to  Espinosa  when  they  expect  an 
addition  to  their  family,  as  no  one  not  actually 
born  there  can  hold  the  office.  At  the  present 
time  this  guard  is  recruited  from  captains  or  lieu- 
tenants on  the  retired  list. 

In  the  ante-chamber  of  each  member  of  the 
Royal  Family  two  of  these  take  their  place  at 
eleven  o'clock;  they  never  speak,  never  sit  down, 
but  pass  the  whole  night  pacing  the  room,  cross- 
ing each  other  as  they  go,  until  morning  relieves 
them  from  what  must  be  rather  a  trying  watch. 
At  eleven  o'clock  each  evening  there  is  a  solemn 
procession  of  servants  and  officials  in  imposing 
uniforms  down  the  grand  staircase  of  the  Palace ; 


102  Spanish  Life 

every  door  is  closed  and  locked  by  a  gentleman 
wearing  an  antique  costume  and  a  three-cornered 
hat,  and  having  an  enormous  bunch  of  keys. 
From  that  time  the  Palace  remains  under  the  ex- 
clusive charge  of  the  Monteros  de  Espinosa.  Al- 
though this  is  the  official  programme,  it  is  to  be 
hoped  the  hour  is  not  a  fixed  one.  It  would  be  a 
little  cruel  to  put  the  Royal  Family  to  bed  so 
early,  without  regard  to  their  feelings;  especially 
as  Madrid  is  essentially  a  city  of  late  hours,  and 
the  various  members  of  it  would  have  to  scamper 
away  from  opera,  or  in  fact  any  entertainment, 
as  if  some  malignant  fairy  were  wanting  to  cast  a 
spell  at  the  witching  hour  of  midnight.  There  are 
some  curious  superstitions,  however,  about  being 
abroad  when  the  clocks  strike  twelve,  which  we 
must  suppose  do  not  now  affect  the  Madrileno. 

While  the  old  church  of  Atocha  was  still  stand- 
ing, the  Court,  with  a  royal  escort,  or  what  is 
called  escadron  de  salut,  all  the  dignitaries  of  the 
Palace  in  attendance,  guards,  outriders,  etc.,  in 
gorgeous  array,  drove  in  half  state  (media gala} 
across  Madrid  and  the  paseos  to  hear  the  salut 
'  'so1  nt ' '  on  Saturday.  The  Queen  Regent  and  her 
daughters,  but  not  often  the  King,  now  visit  in 
turn  some  of  the  churches,  but  without  the  old 
state  or  regularity. 

Since  the  death  of  Alfonso  XII.  many  of  the 
purely  Spanish  customs  of  the  Court  have  been 
modified  or  discontinued.  Although  the  late 
King  was  credited  with  a  desire  to  reduce  the 


The  Court  103 

civil  list,  and  to  adopt  more  English  customs,  he 
was  to  some  extent  in  the  hands  of  the  Conserva- 
tives, who  had  been  the  means  of  his  restoration, 
and  when  he  went  forth  to  put  an  end  to  the 
Carlist  insurrection  and  finish  the  civil  war, 
which  had  laid  desolate  the  Northern  provinces 
and  ruined  commerce  and  industry  for  some  seven 
years,  it  was  at  the  head  of  a  personal  following 
of  over  five  hundred  people.  Nor  was  the  Court 
much,  if  any,  less  numerous  when  the  Royal 
Family  removed  in  the  summer  to  the  lovely 
Palace  of  St.  Ildefonso  at  La  Granja — that  castle 
in  the  air,  which  has  no  equal  in  Europe,  hang- 
ing, as  it  does,  among  gardens,  forests,  rivers, 
and  lakes,  three  thousand  eight  hundred  and 
forty  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea. 

The  Queen  is  Austrian,  and  she  has  never 
gone  out  of  her  way  to  conciliate  the  people  by 
making  herself  really  Spanish.  This  she  has  left 
to  the  Infanta  Isabel,  the  eldest  sister  of  Alfonso. 
XII.  For  many  years  before  the  birth  of  her 
brother,  the  Infanta  Isabel  was  Princess  of  As- 
turias,  as  heiress  apparent  of  the  Crown.  With 
the  advent  of  a  boy,  she  became,  of  course,  only 
Infanta,  losing  the  rank  which  she  had  held  up 
to  this  time.  Being  but  a  child  at  the  time,  she 
perhaps  knew  or  cared  little  for  any  difference  it 
may  have  made  in  her  surroundings.  She  shared 
in  the  flight  of  the  Royal  Family  to  France  in 
1868,  and  her  education  was  completed  in  Paris. 
When  the  whirligig  of  Spanish  politics  called  her 


104  Spanish  Life 

brother  Alfonso,  who  at  the  time  was  a  military 
student  at  Sandhurst,  to  the  throne  from  which 
his  mother  had  been  driven,  Princess  Isabel  re- 
turned with  him  to  Madrid,  and  was  once  more 
installed  in  the  Palace,  above  the  Mauzanares,  as 
Princess  of  Asturias.  This  rank  remained  hers 
during  the  short  episode  of  her  brother's  marriage 
to  his  cousin  Mercedes,  and  the  melancholy  death 
of  the  girl  Queen  at  the  moment  when  a  direct 
heir  to  the  throne  was  expected.  Once  more, 
when  the  daughter  of  Alfonso's  second  wife,  the 
present  Queen  Regent,  was  born,  the  Infanta 
Isabel  became  her  title,  and  she  took  again  the 
lower  rank. 

Nothing  in  history  is  more  pathetic  than  this 
first  marriage  of  Alfonso  XII.  and  its  unhappy 
termination.  The  children  of  Queen  Isabel  and 
those  of  her  sister,  the  Duquesa  de  Montpensier, 
had  been  brought  up  together,  and  there  was  a 
boy-and-girl  attachment  between  the  Prince  of 
Asturias  and  his  cousin  Mercedes.  When  Alfonso 
became  King,  almost  as  it  seemed  by  accident, 
and  it  was  thought  necessary  that  he  should 
marry,  the  boy  gravely  assured  his  Ministers  that 
he  was  quite  willing  to  do  so,  and  in  fact  intended 
to  marry  his  cousin.  Nothing  could  be  more  in- 
opportune, nothing  more  contrary  to  the  welfare 
of  the  distracted  country!  From  the  time  that 
the  notorious  ' '  Spanish  marriages ' '  had  become 
facts,  the  Duke  of  Montpensier  had  been  an  in- 
triguer. The  birth  of  heirs  to  the  throne  of  Spain 


The  Court  105 

(it  is  useless  to  go  back  to  those  long-past  scan- 
dals) had  completely  upset  the  machinations  of 
Louis  Philippe  and  his  Ministers.  So  long  as 
Don  Francisco  de  Assis  and  the  Spanish  nation 
chose  to  acknowledge  the  children  as  legitimate, 
there  was  nothing  to  be  done.  The  direct  hope 
of  seeing  his  sons  Kings  of  Spain  faded  from  the 
view  of  the  French  husband  of  the  sister  of  Isabel 
II.,  but  he  never  for  one  moment  ceased  to 
intrigue.  Although  loaded  with  benefits  and 
kindness  by  the  Queen,  Montpensier  took  no 
small  part  in  the  revolution  which  drove  her  from 
the  country.  Topete,  and  Serrano  —  who  had 
once  been  what  the  Spaniards  called  Polio  Real 
himself — were  bound  in  honour  to  uphold  his 
candidature  for  the  vacant  throne;  their  promise 
had  been  given  long  before  the  pronunciamiento 
at  Cadiz  had  made  successful  revolution  possi- 
ble. Prim  alone  stood  firm :  "Jamas,  jamas  !  " 
(Never,  never!)  he  replied  to  every  suggestion 
to  bring  Montpensier  forward.  In  those  words 
he  signed  his  own  death-warrant.  His  actual 
murderers  were  never  brought  to  justice,  ostensi- 
bly were  never  found;  but  there  never  was  a 
Spaniard  who  doubted  that  the  foul  deed  was  the 
result  of  instigation. 

To  have  Mercedes  as  Queen  Consort,  was  to 
bring  her  father  once  more  within  the  limits  of 
practical  interference  with  national  politics.  To 
all  remonstrance,  however,  the  young  King  had 
one  answer:  "  I  have  promised,"  and  the  nation, 


io6  Spanish  Life 

recognising  that  as  a  perfectly  valid  argument, 
acquiesced,  though  with  many  forebodings.  The 
marriage  took  place,  and  within  a  few  months  the 
girl  Queen  was  carried  with  her  unborn  child  to 
the  melancholy  Panteon  de  los  Principes  at  the 
Escorial. 

The  marriage  of  the  Infanta  Isabel  with  Count 
Girgenti,  a  Neapolitan  Bourbon,  was  an  unhappy 
one,  and  she  obtained  a  legal  separation  from  him 
after  a  very  short  matrimonial  life.  Spaniards 
have  a  perfect  genius  for  giving  apt  nicknames. 
Scarcely  was  the  arrangement  for  the  marriage 
made  known  when  the  Count's  name  was  changed 
to  that  of  Indecente.  He  fought,  however,  for 
Isabel  II.  at  Alcolea,  which  was  at  any  rate  act- 
ing more  decently  than  did  Montpensier,  who  had 
furnished  large  sums  of  money  to  promote  the 
rising  against  his  confiding  sister-in-law,  and,  in 
fact,  never  ceased  his  machinations  against  every 
person  and  every  thing  that  stood  in  his  way, 
until  death  fortunately  removed  him  from  the 
arena  of  Spanish  politics,  his  one  overmastering 
ambition  unfulfilled.  He  had  neither  managed 
to  ascend  the  throne  himself,  nor  see  any  of  his 
children  seated  there,  except  for  the  few  months 
that  Mercedes,  "  beloved  of  the  King  and  of  the 
natio'n,"  shared  the  throne  of  Alfonso  XII. 

The  Infanta  Isabel,  except  for  the  episode  of 
her  exile  in  France,  has  always  lived  in  the 
Royal  Palace  of  Madrid,  having  her  own  quarters, 
and  her  little  court  about  her.  At  times  she  has 


The  Court  107 

been  the  butt  of  much  popular  criticism,  and  even 
dislike,  but  she  has  outlived  it  all,  and  is  now  the 
most  popular  woman  in  Spain.  It  must  have  re- 
quired no  common  qualities  to  have  lived  without 
discord — as  a  separated  wife— with  her  brother 
and  her  younger  sisters;  then  with  Queen  Mer- 
cedes, her  cousin  as  well  as  sister-in-law;  again, 
during  the  time  of  the  King's  widowhood  and 
her  own  elevation  to  the  rank  of  Princess  of 
Asturias,  and,  finally,  since  the  second  marriage 
of  her  brother,  and  his  untimely  death,  with 
Maria  Cristina  and  her  young  nephew  and  nieces. 
One  thing  is  to  be  said  in  favour  of  Isabel  II. 
Deprived  of  all  ordinary  education  herself,  as  a 
part  of  the  evil  policy  of  her  mother,  she  was  care- 
ful that  her  own  children  should  not  have  to 
complain  of  the  same  neglect.  One  and  all  have 
been  thoroughly  educated:  the  Infanta  Paz,  now 
married  to  a  Bavarian  Archduke,  has  shown  con- 
siderable talent  as  a  poetess;  and  the  Infanta 
Isabel  is  universally  acknowledged  to  be  a  clever 
and  a  cultivated  woman,  inheriting  much  of  her 
mother's  charm  of  manner,  and  noted  for  ready 
wit  and  quick  repartee.  Her  popularity,  as  I 
have  said,  is  great,  for  she  is  careful  to  keep  up 
all  the  Spanish  customs.  She  is  constantly  to  be 
seen  in  public,  and,  above  and  beyond  all  things, 
she  never  fails  in  attendance  at  the  bull-fight, 
wearing  the  white  mantilla.  This  alone  would 
cover  a  multitude  of  sins,  supposing  the  Infanta 
to  be  credited  with  them;  but  there  has  never 


io8  Spanish  Life 

been  a  breath  of  scandal  connected  with  her. 
She  is  very  devout,  and  never  fails  in  the  correct 
religious  duties  and  public  appearances.  At  the 
fair,  and  on  Noche  buena,  she  fills  her  carriage 
with  the  cheap  toys  and  sweetmeats  which  mean 
so  much  to  Spanish  children,  and  she  must  be  a 
veritable  fairy  godmother  to  those  who  come 
within  her  circle.  She  takes  a  close  personal  in- 
terest in  many  sisterhoods  and  societies  for  the 
help  of  the  poor.  In  a  word,  she  is  muy  simpdtica 
and  muy  Espanola.  What  could  one  say  more  ? 

A  gala  procession  in  Madrid  is  something  to  be 
remembered,  if  it  be  only  for  the  wealth  of  mag- 
nificent embroideries  and  fabrics  displayed.  The 
royal  carriages  are  drawn  by  eight  horses,  having 
immense  plumes  of  ostrich  feathers,  of  the  royal 
colours,  yellow  and  red,  on  their  heads,  and 
gorgeous  hangings  of  velvet,  with  massive  gold 
embroideries  reaching  almost  to  the  ground;  the 
whole  of  the  harness  and  trappings  glitter  with 
gold  and  silk.  The  grooms,  leading  each  horse, 
are  equally  magnificently  attired,  their  dresses 
being  also  one  mass  of  needlework  of  gold  on 
velvet.  Equerries,  outriders,  and  military  guards 
precede  and  surround  the  royal  carriages,  and 
the  cavalcade  is  lengthened  by  having  a  coche  de 
respecto,  caparisoned  with  equal  splendour,  fol- 
lowing each  one  in  which  a  royal  person  is  being 
conveyed.  Behind  come  the  carriages  of  the 
Grandes,  according  to  rank,  all  drawn  by  at  least 
six  horses,  with  trappings  little,  if  at  all,  inferior 


The  Court  109 

to  those  of  the  Court,  and  each  with  its  enormous 
plume  of  gaily-coloured  ostrich  feathers,  showing 
the  livery  of  its  owner.  In  addition  to  all  this 
grandeur,  the  balconies  of  the  great  houses  lining 
the  route  of  the  processions  display  priceless  heir- 
looms of  embroideries,  hanging  before  each  win- 
dow from  basement  to  roof.  If  these  ancient 
decorations  could  speak,  what  a  strange  story 
they  might  tell  of  the  processions  they  have  seen 
pass!  In  honour  of  the  victories  over  the  Moors; 
of  the  heroes  of  the  New  World ;  of  the  miserable 
murders  of  the  Autos-da-fS ;  of  the  entry  of  the 
Rey  absolute,  to  inaugurate  the  "  Terror,"  on  to 
the  contemptible  "  galas"  of  Isabel  II.,  supposed 
to  keep  the  people  quiet;  and,  almost  the  last,  the 
entry  of  Alfonso  XII.,  after  he  had  put  an  end 
to  the  Carlist  war!  On  the  day  of  rejoicing 
for  "La  Gloriosa  "  there  was  no  such  display, 
although  all  Madrid  was  en  fete.  It  was  the 
triumph  of  the  people,  and  their  heirlooms  do  not 
take  the  form  of  priceless  embroideries. 

In  former  days  the  receptions  at  the  Palace 
were  known  as  besamanos  (to  kiss  hand).  On 
Holy  Thursday  the  Royal  Family  and  all  the 
Court  visit  seven  churches  on  foot — at  least,  that 
is  the  correct  number,  though  sometimes  not 
strictly  adhered  to.  As  no  vehicular  traffic  is 
allowed  on  that  day  or  on  Good  Friday,  the 
streets  where  the  royal  procession  pass  are  swept 
and  laid  with  fresh  sand.  The  ladies  are  in  gala 
costume,  and  drag  their  trains  behind  them,  all 


no 


Spanish  Life 


wearing  the  national  mantilla.  All  Madrid  also 
visits  its  seven  or  less  number  of  churches,  pass- 
ing without  obeisance  before  the  high  altars,  on 
which  there  is  no  Host, — as  the  people  will  tell 
you  sti  Majestad  is  dead, — and  after  ihefuncion  is 
over  there  is  a  general  parade  in  the  Puerta  del 
Sol  and  the  Carrera  de  San  Geronimo,  to  show 
off  the  smart  costumes  of  the  ladies,  while  the 
officers  sit  in  chairs  outside  the  Government  offices 
and  smoke,  admiring  the  prospect. 


CHAPTER  VII 

POPULAR   AMUSEMENTS 

NOTHING  strikes  one  so  much  in  studying 
the  popular  customs  and  pleasures  of  Spain 
as  the  antiquity  of  them  all.  Constantly  one 
finds  one's  self  back  in  prehistoric  times,  and  to 
date  only  from  the  days  when  Spain  was  a  Roman 
province  is  almost  modernity.  No  one  can  travel 
through  Spain,  or  spend  any  time  there,  without 
becoming  aware  that,  however  many  other  forms 
of  recreation  there  may  be,  two  are  universal  and 
all-absorbing  in  their  hold  on  the  widely  differing 
provinces  —  dancing  and  the  bull-ring.  In  the 
Basque  Provinces,  the  national  game  oipelota,  a 
species  of  tennis,  played  without  rackets,  is  still 
kept  up,  and  is  jealously  cultivated  in  the  larger 
towns,  such  as  Vitoria,  San  Sebastian,  and  Bil- 
bao. In  Madrid  at  the  present  time  it  is  played 
in  large  courts  built  on  purpose,  and  attracts 
many  strangers.  To  view  it,  however,  as  a  na- 
tional sport,  one  should  see  it  in  some  of  the  moun- 
tain villages,  where  it  is  still  the  great  recreation 
for  Sundays  and  religious  fiestas.  The  working- 
classes  also  play  at  throwing  the  hammer  or 


H2  Spanish  Life 

crowbar.  This  is  more  especially  the  case 
in  the  Northern  provinces,  where  the  workmen 
are  a  sound,  healthy,  and  sober  race,  enjoying 
simple  and  healthy  amusements,  and  affording 
an  excellent  example  to  those  of  countries  con- 
sidering themselves  much  more  highly  civilised. 

Pigeon-shooting,  which  was  a  great  favourite 
with  the  late  King  Alfonso  XII.,  and  was  made 
fashionable  among  the  aristocracy  in  Madrid  by 
him,  is  a  very  old  sport — if  it  deserves  the  name 
— among  the  Valencians.  Near  I^a  Pechina,  at 
Valencia,  where  the  great  tiro  de  las  palomas  takes 
place,  was  found,  in  1759,  an  inscription:  Soda- 
litium  vernarum  colentes  hid.  This,  Ford  tells  us, 
was  an  ancient  cofradid  to  Isis,  which  paid  for 
her  culto.  Cock-fighting  is  still  practised  in  most 
of  the  Spanish  towns,  as  well  as  in  Valencia,  the 
regular  cock-pits  being  constantly  frequented  in 
Madrid ;  but  it  is  looked  upon  as  suited  only  to 
barrio's  bajos,  and  is  not  much,  if  at  all,  patron- 
ised even  by  the  middle  classes.  It  is  said  by 
those  who  have  seen  it  to  be  particularly  brutal; 
but  it  was  never  a  very  humanising  amusement 
when  practised  by  the  English  nobility  not  such 
a  very  long  time  back. 

Whatever  amusements,  however,  may  be  popu- 
lar in  the  towns,  or  in  particular  provinces,  the  gui- 
tar and  the  dance  are  universal.  So  much  has  been 
written  about  the  Spanish  national  dances  that 
an  absurd  idea  prevails  in  England  that  they  are 
all  very  shocking  and  indecent.  It  is  necessary, 


Popular  Amusements         113 

however,  to  go  very  much  out  of  one's  way,  and 
to  pay  a  good  round  sum,  to  witness  those  gypsy 
dances  which  have  come  down  unchanged  from 
the  remotest  ages.  As  Ford  truly  says,  ' '  Their 
character  is  completely  Oriental,  and  analogous 
to  \heghawarsee  of  the  Egyptians  and  the  Hindoo 
nautch."  "  The  well-known  statue  at  Naples  of 
the  Venere  Callipige  is  the  undoubted  representa- 
tion of  a  Cadiz  dancing-girl,  probably  of  Telethusa 
herself."  These  dances  have  nothing  whatever 
in  common  with  the  national  dances  as  now  to  be 
seen  on  the  Spanish  stage.  They  are  never  per- 
formed except  by  gypsies,  in  their  own  quarter  of 
Seville,  and  are  now  generally  gotten  up  as  a 
show  for  money.  Men  passing  through  Seville  go 
to  these  performances,  as  an  exhibition  of  what 
delighted  Martial  and  Horace,  but  they  do  not 
generally  discuss  them  afterwards  with  their  lady 
friends,  and  to  describe  one  of  these  more  than 
doubtful  dances  as  being  performed  by  guests  in 
a  Madrid  drawing-room,  as  an  English  lady  jour- 
nalist did  a  short  time  ago  in  the  pages  of  a 
respectable  paper,  is  one  of  those  libels  on  Spain 
which  obtain  currency  here  out  of  sheer  igno- 
rance of  the  country  and  the  people. 

Wherever  two  or  three  men  and  women  of  the 
lower  classes  are  to  be  seen  together  in  Spain  dur- 
ing their  play-time,  there  is  a  guitar,  with  singing 
and  dancing.  The  verses  sung  are  innumerable 
short  stanzas  by  unknown  authors;  many,  per- 
haps, improvised  at  the  moment.  The  j'ofa,  the 


IH  Spanish  Life 

malaguena,  and  the  seguidilla  are  combinations 
of  music,  song,  and  dance;  the  last  two  bear  dis- 
tinct indications  of  Oriental  origin;  each  form  is 
linked  to  a  traditional  air,  with  variations.  The 
malaguena  is  Andalusian,  and  the  jota  is  Ara- 
gonese;  but  both  are  popular  in  Castile.  All  are 
love-songs,  most  of  them  of  great  grace  and 
beauty.  Some  writers  complain  that  some  of  these 
dance-songs  are  coarse  and  more  or  less  indecent; 
others  aver  that  they  never  degenerate  into  coarse- 
ness. Quien  sabe  ?  Perhaps  it  is  a  case  of  Honi 
soil  qui  maly  pense.  In  any  case,  throughout  the 
length  and  breadth  of  Spain,  outside  the  wayside 
venta,  or  the  barber's  shop,  in  the  patios  of  inns, 
or  wherever  holiday-makers  congregate,  there  is 
the  musician  twanging  his  guitar,  there  are  the 
dancers  twirling  about  in  obvious  enjoyment  to 
the  accompaniment  of  the  stamping,  clapping, 
and  encouraging  cries  of  the  onlookers,  and  the 
graceful  little  verse,  with  its  probably  weird  and 
plaintive  cadence: 

Era  tan  dichoso  autes 
De  encontrarte  en  mi  canimo ! 
Y,  sin  embargo,  no  siento 
El  haberte  conocido. 

I  was  so  happy  before 

I  had  met  you  on  my  way  ! 

And  yet  there  is  no  regret 

That  I  have  learned  to  know  you. 

The  malaguena  and  the  seguidilla,  which  is 


Popular  Amusements         115 

more  complicated,  are  generally  seen  on  the  stage 
only  in  Madrid,  where  they  must  charm  all  who 
can  appreciate  the  poetry  of  motion.  The  dance 
of  the  peasant  in  Castile  is  always  the/0/<z  Ara- 
gonesa.  The  part  the  tambourine  and  the 
castanets  play  in  these  dances  must  be  seen  and 
heard  to  be  understood:  they  punctuate  not  only 
the  music,  but  also  the  movement,  the  sentiment, 
and  the  refrain.  The  Andaluces  excel  in  playing 
on  the  castanets.  These  are,  according  to  Ford, 
the  "  Baetican  crusmata  and  crotola  of  the  an- 
cients ' ' :  and  crotola  is  still  a  Spanish  term  for  the 
tambourine.  Little  children  may  be  seen  snap- 
ping their  fingers  or  clicking  two  bits  of  slate 
together,  in  imitation  of  the  castanet  player;  but 
the  continuous  roll,  or  succession  of  quick  taps,  is 
an  art  to  be  learned  only  by  practice.  The  cas- 
tanets are  made  of  ebony,  and  are  generally 
decorated  with  bunches  of  smart  ribbons,  which 
play  a  great  part  in  the  dance. 

The  popular  instrument  in  the  Basque  and 
Northern  provinces  is  the  bagpipe,  and  the  dances 
are  quite  different  from  those  of  the  other  parts 
of  Spain.  The  zortico  zorisco,  or  "  evolution  of 
eight,"  is  danced  to  sound  of  tambourines,  fifes, 
and  a  kind  of  flageolet — el  silbato,  resembling  the 
rude  instruments  of  the  Roman  Pifferari — prob- 
ably of  the  same  origin. 

Theatrical  representations  have  always  been  a 
very  popular  form  of  recreation  among  the  in- 
habitants of  the  Iberian  continent,  from  the  days 


n6  Spanish  Life 

when  the  plays  were  acted  by  itinerant  perform- 
ers, "  carrying  all  their  properties  in  a  sack,  the 
stage  consisting  of  four  wooden  benches,  covered 
with  rough  boards,  a  blanket  suspended  at  the 
back,  to  afford  a  green-rooni,  in  which  some 
musician  sang,  without  accompaniment,  old  bal- 
lads to  enliven  the  proceedings."  This  is  Cer- 
vantes's  description  of  the  national  stage  in  the 
time  of  his  immediate  predecessor,  L,ope  de 
Rueda. 

The  Spanish  zarzuela  appears  to  have  been  the 
forerunner  and  origin  of  all  musical  farce  and 
"opera  comique,"  only  naturalised  in  our  country 
during  the  present  generation.  The  theatres  in 
all  the  provinces  are  always  full,  always  popular; 
the  pieces  only  run  for  short  periods,  a  perpetual 
variety  being  aimed  at  by  the  managers — a  thing 
easily  to  be  understood  when  one  remembers 
that  the  same  audience,  at  any  rate  in  the  boxes 
and  stalls,  frequent  them  week  in,  week  out. 
In  Madrid,  with  a  population  of  five  hundred 
thousand  inhabitants,  there  are  nineteen  theatres. 
With  the  exception  of  the  first-class  theatres,  the 
people  pay  two  reales  (5^.)  for  each  small  act  or 
piece,  and  the  audience  changes  many  times  dur- 
ing the  evening,  a  constant  stream  coming  and 
going.  Long  habit  and  familiarity  with  good 
models  have  made  the  lower  class  of  playgoers 
critical;  their  judgment  of  a  piece,  or  of  an  actor, 
is  always  good  and  worth  having. 

The  religiousTfetfas  must  also  count  among  the 


Popular  Amusements         1 1 7 

amusements  of  the  people  in  Spain.  Whether  it 
be  the  Holy  Week  in  Seville  or  Toledo,  the 
Romeria  of  Santiago,  the  Veladas,  or  vigils,  of 
the  great  festivals,  or  the  day  of  Corpus  Christi, 
which  takes  place  on  the  first  Thursday  after 
Trinity  Sunday — at  all  these  the  people  turn  out 
in  thousands,  dressed  in  their  smartest  finery, 
and  combine  thorough  enjoyment  with  the  per- 
formance of  what  they  believe  to  be  a  religious 
duty.  There  is  little  or  no  drunkenness  at  these 
open-air  festivities,  but  much  gaiety,  laughter, 
fluttering  of  fans,  "throwing  of  sparks"  from 
mischievous  or  languishing  eyes — and  at  the  end 
always  a  bull-fight. 

Here  we  touch  the  very  soul  of  Spain.  Take 
away  the  bull-rings,  make  an  end  of  the  toreros, 
and  Spain  is  no  longer  Spain — perhaps  a  country 
counting  more  highly  in  the  evolution  of  human- 
ity as  a  whole,  but  it  will  need  another  name  if 
that  day  ever  comes,  of  which  there  does  not  now 
seem  to  be  the  remotest  possibility.  All  that  can 
be  said  is  that  to-day  there  is  a  party,  or  there 
are  individuals,  in  the  country  who  profess  to 
abhor  the  bull-fight,  and  wish  to  see  it  ended ;  it 
is  doubtful  if  up  to  this  time  any  Spaniard  ever  en- 
tertained such  an  "outlandish ' '  notion.  The  bull- 
fight is  said  to  have  been  founded  by  the  Moors 
of  Spain,  although  bulls  were  probably  fought 
with  or  killed  in  Roman  amphitheatres.  The 
principle  on  which  they  were  founded  was  the  dis- 
play of  horsemanship,  use  of  the  lance,  courage, 


n8  Spanish  Life 

coolness,  and  dexterity — all  accomplishments  of 
the  Arabs  of  the  desert.  It  is  undoubtedly  the 
latter  qualities  which  make  the  sport  so  fascinating 
to  English  aficionados,  of  whom  there  are  many, 
and  have  caused  \hzfiestas  de  toros  to  live  on  in 
the  affections  of  the  whole  Spanish  people.  In  its 
earliest  days,  gentlemen,  armed  only  with  the 
rejon,  the  short  spear  of  the  original  Iberian, 
about  four  feet  long,  fought  in  the  arena  with  the 
bulls,  and  it  was  always  a  fair  trial  of  skill  and  a 
display  of  good  horsemanship. 

When  the  fatal  race  of  the  French  Bourbons 
came  to  the  throne,  and  the  country  was  inundated 
with  foreign  favourites,  the  Court  and  the  French 
hangers-on  of  the  kings  turned  the  fashion  away 
from  the  national  sport,  and  it  gradually  fell  into 
the  hands  of  the  lower  classes,  professional  bull- 
fighters taking  the  place  of  the  courtly  players  of 
old,  and  these  were  drawn  from  the  lowest  and 
worst  ranks  of  the  masses;  the  sporting  element, 
to  a  great  extent,  died  out,  and  the  whole  spec- 
tacle became  brutalised.  Pan  y  toros  (bread  and 
bulls)  were  all  the  people  wanted,  and,  crushed 
out  of  all  manliness  by  their  rulers,  and  taught  a 
thirst  for  cruelty  and  bloodshed  by  the  example 
of  their  religious  autos-da-fe,  the  bull-fight  be- 
came the  revolting  spectacle  which  foreigners — 
especially  the  English — have  been  so  ready  to 
rail  against  as  a  disgrace  to  the  Spanish  nation, 
while  they  rarely  let  an  opportunity  escape 
them  of  assisting  as  interested  spectators  at  what 


Popular  Amusements         119 

they  condemned  so  loudly,  and  they  quite  for- 
got their  own  prize-ring,  and  other  amusements 
equally  brutal  and  disgraceful.  If  the  corrida  de 
toros  was  ever  as  bad  as  it  has  been  described  by 
some,  it  has  improved  very  much  of  late  years, 
and  most  of  its  revolting  features  are  eliminated. 
The  pack  of  dogs,  which  used  to  be  brought  in 
when  a  bull  was  dangerous  to  the  human  fighters, 
has  long  been  done  away  with.  The  media  luna, 
which  we  are  told  was  identical  with  the  instru- 
ment mentioned  in  Joshua,  is  no  longer  tolerated 
to  hamstring  the  unfortunate  bull ;  and  if  a  horse 
is  gored  in  the  fair  fight,  there  are  men  especially 
in  attendance  to  put  him  out  of  his  misery  at  once. 
It  is  doubtful  whether  the  animal  suffers  more 
than,  or  as  much  as,  the  unhappy  favourites,  that 
are  sent  alive,  and  in  extremest  torture,  to  Amster- 
dam and  other  foreign  cities,  to  be  manufactured 
into  essence  of  meat  and  such-like  dainties,  after 
a  life  of  cruelly  hard  work  in  our  omnibuses  and 
cabs  has  made  them  no  longer  of  use  as  draught 
animals. 

The  bull-fighter  of  to-day  is  by  no  means  drawn 
from  the  dregs  of  the  people;  there  is,  at  any 
rate,  one  instance  of  a  man  of  good  birth  and 
education  attaining  celebrity  as  a  professional 
torero.  He  risks  his  life  at  every  point  of  the 
conflict,  and  it  is  his  coolness,  his  courage,  his 
dexterity  in  giving  the  coup  de  grace  so  as  to 
cause  no  suffering,  that  raise  the  audience  to  such 
a  pitch  of  frenzied  excitement.  I  speak  wholly 


120  Spanish  Life 

from  hearsay,  for  I  have  myself  only  witnessed  a 
corrida  de  novillos — in  which  the  bulls  are  never 
killed,  and  have  cushions  fixed  on  their  horns — 
and  a  curious  fight  between  a  bull  and  an  ele- 
phant, who  might  have  been  described  as  an  "  old 
campaigner,"  in  which  there  was  no  bloodshed, 
and  much  amusement.  My  sympathies  always 
went  with  the  bull, — who,  at  least,  was  not  con- 
sulted in  the  matter  of  the  fight, — as  I  have  seen 
the  popular  espada,  with  his  own  particular  chulo, 
a  mass  of  white  satin  and  gold  embroidery,  driving 
out  to  the  bull-ring  on  the  afternoon  of  a  fiesta, 
bowing  with  right  royal  grace  and  dignity  to  the 
plaudits  of  the  people.  I  was  even  accused  of 
having  given  the  evil  eye  to  one  well-known 
favourite  as  he  passed  my  balcony,  when  I 
wished,  almost  audibly,  that  the  bull  might  have 
his  turn  for  once  in  a  way  that  afternoon.  And 
he  had;  for  the  popular  espada  was  carried  out  of 
the  ring  apparently  dead,  the  spectators  came 
back  looking  white  and  sick,  and  I  felt  like  a 
very  murderess  until  I  learned  later  that  he  was 
not  dead.  All  Madrid,  almost  literally,  called  to 
inquire  for  him  daily,  filling  books  of  signatures, 
as  if  he  had  been  an  emperor  at  least.  Person- 
ally, I  was  more  interested  in  his  courage  after 
the  event  and  the  devotion  of  his  chulo,  who 
never  left  his  side,  but  held  his  hands  while  the 
injured  leg  was  cut  off,  in  three  separate  opera- 
tions, without  any  anaesthetic.  Eventually,  he 
completely  recovered,  and  was  fitted  with  an 


Popular  Amusements         121 

admirable  mechanical  cork  limb  in  place  of  the 
one  removed  in  three  detachments;  and  my  sense 
of  evil  responsibility  was  quite  removed  when  I 
heard  that  his  young  wife  was  delighted  to  think 
that  he  could  never  enter  the  bull-ring  as  a  fighter 
again,  and  her  anxieties  were  at  an  end. 

It  is  quite  impossible  to  over-estimate  the  popu- 
larity of  the  toreros  with  the  Spanish  people. 
They  are  the  friends  and  favourites  of  the  aristoc- 
racy, the  demi-gods  of  the  populace.  You  never 
see  one  of  them  in  the  streets  without  an  admiring 
circle  of  worshippers,  who  hang  on  every  word 
and  gesture  of  the  great  man;  and  this  is  no  cult 
of  the  hour,  it  is  unceasing.  They  are  always 
known  for  their  generosity,  not  only  to  injured 
comrades,  but  to  any  of  the  poor  in  need.  Is 
there  a  disaster  by  which  many  are  injured — flood, 
tempest,  or  railway  accident?  Immediately  a 
bull-fight  is  arranged  for  the  sufferers,  and  the 
whole  cuadrilla  will  give  their  earnings  to  the 
cause.  Not  only  so,  but  the  private  charities  of 
these  popular  favourites  are  immense,  and  quite 
unheard  of  by  the  public.  They  adopt  orphans, 
pay  regular  incomes  to  widows,  as  mere  parts  of 
every-day  work.  They  are,  one  and  all,  religious 
men;  the  last  thing  they  do,  before  entering  the 
arena  with  their  life  in  their  hands,  is  to  confess 
and  receive  absolution  in  the  little  chapel  in  the 
Bull-Ring,  spending  some  time  in  silent  prayer 
before  the  altar,  while  the  wife  at  home  is  burning 
candles  to  the  Virgin,  and  offering  her  prayers 


122  Spanish  Life 

for  his  safety  during  the  whole  time  that  the 
corrida  lasts.  Extreme  unction  is  always  in  readi- 
ness, in  case  of  serious  accident  to  the  torero,  the 
priest  (mufti)  slipping  into  the  chapel  before  the 
public  arrive  on  the  scene. 

Rafael  Molina  Lagartijo,  one  of  the  veterans  of 
the  bull-fighters,  and  an  extreme  favourite  with 
the  people  for  many  years,  died  recently,  after 
living  for  some  time  in  comparative  retirement  in 
his  native  Cordoba.  Some  idea  of  the  important 
place  which  these  men  occupy  in  Spanish  society 
may  be  gathered  from  the  numerous  notices  which 
appeared  in  the  newspapers  of  all  shades  of  politi- 
cal opinion  after  his  death.  I  quote  from  the 
article  which  appeared  in  the  charming  little 
illustrated  Blanco  y  Negro,  of  Madrid,  on  the 
favourite  of  the  Spanish  public.  In  what,  to  us, 
seems  somewhat  inflated  language,  but  which  is, 
however,  quite  simple  and  natural  to  the  Spaniard, 
the  writer  began  his  notice  thus: 

' '  He  who  has  heard  the  magic  oratory  of  Cas- 
telar,  has  listened  to  the  singing  of  Gayarre,  the 
declamation  of  Cabro,  has  read  Zorilla,  and  wit- 
nessed the  torear  of  Lagartijo,  may  say,  without 
any  kind  of  reservation,  that  there  is  nothing  left 
for  him  to  admire!"  Having  thus  placed  the 
popular  bull-fighter  on  a  level  with  orators, 
authors,  and  musicians  of  the  first  rank,  the  writer 
goes  on  to  describe  the  beauties  of  Lagartijo' s 
play  in  words  which  are  too  purely  technical  of 
the  ring  to  make  translation  possible,  and  adds: 


Popular  Amusements         123 

' '  He  who  has  not  seen  the  great  torero  of  C6rdoba 
in  the  plenitude  of  his  power  will  assuredly  not 
comprehend  why  the  name  of  Lagartijo  for  more 
than  twenty  years  rilled  plazas  and  playbills,  nor 
why  the  aficionados  of  to-day  recall,  in  speaking 
of  his  death,  times  which  can  never  be  surpassed. 
.  .  .  The  toreo  (play)  of  Lagartijo  was  always 
distinguished  by  its  classic  grace,  its  dignity  and 
consummate  art,  the  absence  of  affectation,  or 
struggle  for  effect.  In  every  part  of  the  fight  the 
figure  of  Rafael  fell  naturally  into  the  most  grace- 
ful attitudes;  and  for  this  reason  he  has  always 
worn  the  rich  dress  of  the  torero  with  the  best 
effect.  He  was  the  perfect  and  characteristic  type 
of  a  torero,  such  as  Spanish  fancy  has  always  im- 
agined it.  Lagartijo  died  with  his  eyes  fixed  on 
the  image  of  the  Virgen  de  los  Dolores,  to  whom 
he  had  always  confidently  committed  his  life  of 
peril,  and  with  the  dignity  and  resignation  of  a 
good  man." 

The  article  was  illustrated  with  numerous  por- 
traits of  Don  Rafael:  in  full  torero  dress  in  1886; 
his  very  last  photograph ;  views  of  him  in  the 
courtyard  of  his  home  in  Cordoba,  and  outside 
the  Venta  San  Rafael,  where  he  took  his  coffee 
in  the  evening,  and  others.  The  notice  concludes 
by  saying  that  his  life  was  completely  dedicated 
to  his  property,  which  he  managed  himself,  and 
he  was  looked  upon  as  the  guardian  angel  of  the 
labourers  on  his  farm.  Probre  Rafael!  "The 
lovers  of  the  bull-fight  are  lamenting  the  death 


124  Spanish  Life 

of  the  torero,  but  the  poor  of  Cordoba  mourn  the 
loss  of  their  '  Sefior  Rafael.'  " 

The  wives  of  the  toreros  are  generally  celebrated 
for  their  beauty,  their  wit,  and  their  devotion  to 
their  husbands — indeed,  the  men  have  a  large 
choice  before  them  when  choosing  their  helpmates 
for  life.  To  their  wives  is  due  much  of  the  mak- 
ing and  all  the  keeping  up  of  the  elaborate  and 
costly  dress  of  the  torero.  They  are,  as  someone 
has  said,  "  ferociously  virtuous,"  and  share  in  the 
open-handed  generosity  of  their  husbands.  The 
earnings  of  a  successful  torero  are  very  large.  In 
some  cases,  they  make  as  much  as  ,£4000  or  ^5000 
a  year  of  English  money,  during  the  height  of 
their  popularity,  and  retire  to  end  their  days  in 
their  native  and  beloved  Andalucia. 

Whatever  may  be  said  by  foreigners  of  the 
brutalising  effect  of  the  Spanish  popular  game,  it 
certainly  has  no  more  effect  on  those  who  witness 
or  practise  it  than  fox-hunting  has  on  English- 
men, and  it  is  doubtful  whether  there  is  any  more 
cruelty  in  one  sport  than  in  the  other.  The  foxes 
are  fostered  and  brought  up  for  the  sole  purpose 
of  being  harried  to  death,  without  even  a  sem- 
blance of  fair  play  being  allowed  to  them,  and  if  a 
fox-hunter  risks  his  life  it  is  only  as  a  bad  rider 
that  he  does  so.  There  is  no  danger  and  cer- 
tainly no  dignity  in  the  English  sport,  even  if  it 
indirectly  keeps  up  the  breed  of  horses. 

A  curious  incident  is  related  by  Count  Vasili 
as  having  happened  in  the  Bull-Ring  in  Madrid 


Popular  Amusements         125 

some  years  ago  during  a  corrida  of  Cuchares,  the 
celebrated  espada.  It  is  usual  during  fiestas  of 
charity  to  enclose  live  sparrows  in  the  banderillas 
which  it  is  part  of  the  play  to  affix,  at  great  risk 
to  the  torero,  in  the  shoulders  of  the  bull;  the 
paper  envelope  bursts,  and  the  birds  are  set  at 
liberty.  Crossing  the  arena,  one  of  the  men  care- 
lessly hit  at  a  bird  turning  wildly  about  in  its 
efforts  to  escape,  and  killed  it.  "In  my  life," 
says  the  Count,  ' '  I  have  never  seen  such  a  spec- 
tacle. Ten  thousand  spectators,  standing  up, 
wildly  gesticulating,  shouting  for  death  on  the 
'  cruel  torero ' ;  nay,  some  even  threw  themselves 
into  the  arena,  ready  to  lynch  the  heartless 
creature ! ' ' 

Horse-racing  may  now  be  said  to  have  been 
fairly  established  in  Spain  in  most  of  the  great 
centres,  and  the  Hippodrome  in  Madrid  is  little 
behind  one  of  England's  popular  race-courses  in 
its  crowds,  the  brilliant  dresses  of  the  ladies,  and 
the  enthusiasm  evoked ;  but  whether  it  will  ever 
supersede  the  really  national  fiesta  is  to  be 
doubted.  The  upper  classes  also  affect  polo, 
tennis,  and  croquet,  and  go  in  a  good  deal  for 
gymnastics,  fencing,  and  fives. 

Cycling  does  not  appear  to  commend  itself 
greatly  to  the  Spanish  idea  of  recreation.  Bicy- 
cles are,  of  course,  to  be  seen  in  the  large  and 
more  modern  towns,  but  they  are  never  very 
numerous,  and  as  far  as  ladies  are  concerned) 
may  be  said  to  have  made  no  way. 


i26  Spanish  Life 

I  have  referred  to  a  curious  spectacle  several 
times  presented  in  Madrid,  chiefly  in  fiestas  for 
charitable  purposes,  where  an  elephant  was  intro- 
duced into  the  Bull- Ring  to  fight,  in  place  of  the 
usual  cuadrilla  of  men.  This  was  an  old  elephant 
named  Pizarro,  a  great  favourite  of  many  years' 
standing  with  the  Madrilenos.  He  was  an 
enormous  animal,  but  one  of  his  tusks  had  been 
broken  off  about  a  third  from  the  tip,  so  that  he 
had  only  one  to  use  in  warfare  or  as  protection. 
He  was  tethered  in  the  centre  of  the  arena,  by  one 
of  his  hind  legs,  to  a  stump  about  twelve  inches 
high.  Then  the  bulls  were  let  out  one  at  a  time. 
Meanwhile,  Pizarro  was  amusing  himself  by  eat- 
ing oranges  which  were  showered  on  him  by  his 
admirers  on  the  benches.  With  the  greatest 
coolness  he  continued  his  repast,  picking  up 
orange  after  orange  with  his  trunk,  all  that  he 
was  careful  to  do  being  to  keep  his  face  to  the 
bull,  turning  slowly  as  his  enemy  galloped  round 
the  ring  trying  to  take  him  in  flank.  At  last  the 
bull  prepared  to  charge ;  Pizarro  packed  away  his 
trunk  between  his  tusks,  and  quietly  waited  the 
onslaught.  The  bull  rushed  at  him  furiously; 
but  the  huge  animal,  quite  good-naturedly  and  a 
little  with  the  air  of  pitying  contempt,  simply 
turned  aside  the  attack  with  his  one  complete 
horn,  and  as  soon  as  the  bull  withdrew,  a  little 
nonplussed,  went  on  picking  up  and  eating  his 
oranges  as  before.  Bull  after  bull  gave  up  the 
contest  as  impossible,  and  contentedly  went  out 


Popular  Amusements         127 

between  the  cabestros  sent  in  to  fetch  them.  At 
last  one  more  persistent  or  courageous  than  the 
others  came  bounding  in.  Pizarro  realised  at 
once  that  for  the  moment  he  must  pause  in  eating 
his  dessert;  but  he  became  aware  at  the  same 
time  that  in  turning  round  to  face  the  successive 
bulls,  he  had  gradually  wound  himself  up  close 
to  the  stump,  and  had  no  room  to  back  so  as  to 
receive  the  attack.  The  most  interesting  incident 
in  the  whole  affray  was  to  watch  the  elephant 
find  out,  by  swinging  his  tethered  leg,  first  in  one 
direction  and  then  in  another,  how  to  free  him- 
self. This  he  did,  first  by  swinging  his  leg  round 
and  round  over  the  stump,  then  by  walking 
slowly  round  and  round,  always  facing  the  bull, 
and  drawing  his  cord  farther  and  farther  until  he 
was  perfectly  free:  then  he  was  careful  only  to 
turn  as  on  a  pivot,  keeping  the  rope  at  a  stretch. 
Finally  the  bull  charged  at  him  with  great  fury ; 
stepping  slightly  aside,  Pizarro  caught  him  up 
sideways  on  his  tusks,  and  held  him  up  in  the  air, 
perfectly  impotent  and  mad  with  rage.  When  he 
considered  the  puny  creature  had  been  sufficiently 
shown  his  inferiority,  he  gently  put  him  down, 
and  the  astonished  and  humbled  bull  declined 
further  contest.  The  fighting  bulls  of  Spain  are 
wonderfully  small  in  comparison  with  English 
animals,  it  should  be  said. 

Every  night,  after  his  turn  at  the  circus  was 
over  poor  old  Pizarro  used  to  walk  home  alone 
under  my  balcony,  open  his  stable  door  with  his 


128  Spanish  Life 

own  latch-key,  or  at  least  his  trunk,  and  put 
himself  to  bed  like  any  Christian. 

One  of  the  most  fashionable  amusements  in 
Madrid  is  to  attend  on  the  morning  of  the  bull- 
fight while  the  espadas  choose  the  particular  bulls 
they  wish  to  have  as  enemy,  and  affix  their 
colours,  the  large  rosette  of  ribbon  which  shows 
which  of  the  toreros  the  bull  is  to  meet  in  deadly 
conflict.  The  bulls  are  then  placed  in  their  iron 
cages  in  the  order  in  which  they  are  to  enter  the 
arena.  The  fashionable  ladies  and  other  aficion- 
ados of  the  sport  then  drive  back  to  Madrid  to 
luncheon  and  to  prepare  for  the  entertainment  of 
the  afternoon. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  PRESS  AND  ITS  LEADERS 

PERHAPS  there  are  few  countries  where  the 
influence  of  the  Press  is  greater  than  in 
Spain,  and  this  is  largely  due  to  the  fact  that 
while  the  journals  are  read  by  everyone,  for  a 
great  number  of  the  people  they  form  the  only 
literature.  The  free  library  is  not  yet  universal 
in  the  country,  though,  doubtless,  in  the  near 
future  it  may  become  general.  In  the  meantime, 
every  imaginable  shade  of  political  opinion  has 
its  organ;  even  the  Bull-Ring  has  at  least  two 
excellently  illustrated  newspapers;  and  the  extra 
sheets,  printed  hastily  and  sold  immediately  after 
the  corrida  has  terminated,  have  an  enormous 
sale.  Deserving  of  mention  is  the  curious  little 
paper  known  as  the  "  Night-cap  of  Madrid,"  be- 
cause it  is  supposed  to  be  impossible  for  anyone 
to  go  to  rest  until  he  has  read  the  late  edition, 
which  comes  out  not  long  before  midnight.  It  is 
said  to  have  no  politics,  and  only  pretends  to  give 
all  the  news  of  the  world.  There  are  many  illus- 
trated papers,  both'  comic  and  serious.  The 
charmingly  artistic  little  Blanco  y  Negro,  beauti- 
129 


130  Spanish  Life 

fully  gotten  up,  is  at  the  head  of  all  the  more  dig- 
nified illustrated  journals  of  the  country.  There 
are  no  kiosks;  the  papers  are  sold  by  children 
or  by  old  women  in  the  streets,  and  the  Madrid 
night  is  rent  by  the  appalling  cries  of  these  itiner- 
ant vendors  of  literature.  For  the  Spanish  news- 
paper is  always  literature,  which  is  a  good  deal 
more  than  can  be  said  for  some  of  the  English 
halfpenny  Press.  Whatever  may  be  the  politics 
of  the  particular  journal,  its  Castellano  is  perfect; 
perhaps  a  little  stilted  or  pompous,  but  always 
dignified  and  well-written. 

The  journalists  of  Madrid  have  a  special  facility 
for  saying  with  an  air  of  extreme  innocence  what 
they,  for  various  reasons,  do  not  care  to  express 
quite  openly.  Allegories,  little  romances,  stories 
of  fact  full  of  clever  words  of ' '  double  sense ' '  make 
known  to  the  initiated,  or  those  who  know  how  to 
read  between  the  lines,  much  that  might  other- 
wise awaken  the  disagreeable  notice  of  the  censor, 
when  there  is  one.  There  is  an  air  of  good- 
natured  raillery  which  takes  off  the  edge  of  politi- 
cal rancour,  and  keeps  up  the  amenities  and  the 
dignity  of  the  Spanish  Press.  Only  the  other 
day  one  of  the  leading  English  journals  pointed 
out  what  a  dignified  part  the  Press  of  Madrid,  of 
every  shade  of  politics,  had  played  in  the  recent 
effort  made  by  some  foreign  newspapers — of  a 
class  which  so  far  does  not  exist  in  Spain — to 
make  mischief  and  awaken  national  jealousy  be- 
tween England  and  Spain  on  the  subject  of  the 


The  Press  and  its  Leaders 


works  now  being  carried  out  by  the  English 
Government  at  Gibraltar.  The  Spanish  news- 
papers, of  all  shades  of  opinion,  have  made  it 
abundantly  evident  that  their  country  entertains 
no  unworthy  suspicion  of  England's  good  faith, 
and  has  not  the  smallest  intention  of  being  led 
into  strained  or  otherwise  than  perfectly  friendly 
relations  with  their  old  allies  of  the  Peninsular 
War,  to  gratify  the  rabid  enmity  of  a  section  of  a 
Press  foreign  to  both  countries.  This  is,  perhaps, 
the  more  remarkable  because  a  certain  amount 
of  misunderstanding  of  England  exists  among 
some  elements  of  the  Spanish  Press. 

The  Liberal  party  in  Spain  is,  in  fact,  the  party 
of  progress,  and  the  nation  has  at  last  awakened 
from  its  condition  of  slavery  under  unworthy 
rulers,  and  is  practically  united  in  its  determina- 
tion to  return  to  its  place  among  the  nations  of 
Europe. 

There  are  many  shades  of  Liberalism,  and  even 
Republicanism,  but,  as  will  be  seen  in  another 
place,  the  real  welfare  of  the  people,  and  not  the 
success  of  a  mere  political  party,  is  the  underlying 
motive  of  all,  however  wild  and  unpractical  may 
be  some  of  the  dreams  for  the  carrying  out  of 
these  ideas  of  universal  progress.  It  is  impossible 
for  a  Spaniard  to  conceive  of  maligning  or  be- 
littling his  own  country  for  merely  party  purposes; 
and,  therefore,  when  he  finds  an  English  news- 
paper calling  itself  "Liberal"  he  imagines  the 
word  to  have  the  same  signification  it  has  in  his 


132  Spanish  Life 

own  country.  So  it  has  come  to  pass  that  many 
of  the  worst  misrepresentations — to  use  a  very 
mild  term — of  a  portion  of  the  English  Press  have 
been  reproduced  in  Spanish  newspapers,  and  be- 
lieved by  their  readers. 

Among  the  principal  newspapers,  in  a  crowd  of 
less  important  ones,  La  Epoca,  Conservative 
and  dynastic  ranks  first;  this  is  the  journal  of  the 
aristocrats,  of  the  ' '  upper  ten  thousand, ' '  or  those 
who  aspire  to  be  so,  and  it  ranks  as  the  doyen  of 
the  whole  Press.  Its  circulation  is  not  so  large  as 
that  of  some  of  the  other  papers,  but  its  clientele 
is  supposed  to  be  of  the  best.  El  National  is  also 
Conservative,  but  belonging  to  the  party  of 
Romero  Robledo.  What  the  exact  politics  of 
that  variation  of  Conservatism  might  be,  it  is 
difficult,  I  might  almost  say  impossible,  for  a 
stranger  to  say.  If  you  were  told  nothing  about 
it,  and  took  it  up  accidentally  to  read  of  current 
events,  you  would  certainly  suppose  it  to  be  inde- 
pendent, with  a  decidedly  Liberal  tendency.  Still 
it  calls  itself  Conservative. 

El  Correo  is  Liberal,  of  the  special  type  of 
Sagasta,  the  present  Prime  Minister.  El  Espanol, 
which  also  gives  one  the  impression  of  independ- 
ence, is  Liberal  after  the  manner  of  Gemaro. 
El  Heraldo,  calling  itself  Diario  Independente,  is 
credited  with  being  the  Liberal  organ  of  Canal- 
ijas.  El  Liberal  and  El  Pats  are  Republican,  and 
El  Correo  Espanol  is  Carlist,  or  clerical.  This 
paper  appears  to  be  looked  upon  a  good  deal  in 


The  Press  and  its  Leaders    133 

the  nature  of  a  joke  by  its  colleagues,  and  quota- 
tions from  it  are  always  accompanied  by  notes  of 
exclamation. 

La  Correspondencia  de  Espana  is  a  paper  all  by 
itself,  an  invention  of  Spanish  journalism,  and  its 
unprecedented  success  is  due  to  many  of  its  quite 
unique  peculiarities.  Its  originator,  now  a  mil- 
lionaire, is  proud  of  relating  that  he  arrived  in 
Madrid  with  two  dollars  in  his  pocket.  He  it  was 
who  conceived  the  brilliant  idea  of  founding  a 
journal  which  should  be  the  special  organ  of  all. 
" Diario  politico  independiente,  y  de  noticias  :  Eco 
impartial  de  la  opinion  y  delaprensa"  he  calls  it, 
and  the  fourth  page,  devoted  to  advertisements, 
would  make  the  fortune  of  ten  others.  His  boast 
was  that  it  had  no  editor,  paid  no  writers,  and 
employed  no  correspondents.  It  simply  possessed 
a  certain  number  of  ' '  caterers ' '  for  news,  who 
thrust  themselves  everywhere,  picking  up  morsels 
of  news — good,  bad,  and  indifferent,  for  the  most 
part  scribbled  in  pencil  and  thrown  into  a  recep- 
tacle from  which  they  are  drawn  in  any  order,  or 
none,  and  handed  to  the  printer  as  "copy"; 
coming  out  in  short,  detached  paragraphs  of  un- 
even length,  ranging  from  three  lines  to  twenty. 
Extracts  from  foreign  newspapers,  official  news, 
provincial  reports,  money  matters,  religious  an- 
nouncements, accidents,  everything  comes  out 
pell-mell — absolutely  all "  the  voices  of  the  flying 
day,"  in  Madrid  and  everywhere  else,  in  one 
jumble,  without  order  or  sequence,  one  paragraph 


134  Spanish  Life 

frequently  being  a  direct  contradiction  to  another 
in  the  same  sheet.  There  are  three  editions  dur- 
ing the  day,  but  the  "  Night-cap,"  which  sums  up 
them  all,  appears  about  ten  o'clock  or  later,  and 
it  is  scarcely  an  exaggeration  to  say  that  it  is 
bought  by  almost  every  householder  in  the  city. 

The  nature  of  the  Correspondencia  has  changed 
very  little  since  its  earliest  days.  It  is  a  little 
more  dignified,  condescends  even  to  short  articles 
on  current  subjects  of  interest,  but  it  is  the  same 
universal  provider  of  news  and  gossip  as  ever.  It 
goes  with  the  times;  so  far  as  it  has  any  leanings 
at  all,  it  is  with  the  Government  of  the  hour;  but 
it  is  for  the  most  part  quite  impersonal,  and  it 
makes  itself  agreeable  to  all  parties  alike.  Santa 
Ana,  the  clever  initiator  of  this  new  and  highly 
successful  adventure  in  journalism,  has  two  other 
very  prosperous  commercial  enterprises  in  his 
hands  —  the  manufacture  of  paper  for  printing 
and  the  supply  of  natural  flowers.  He  himself  is 
an  enormous  and  indefatigable  worker,  personally 
looks  after  his  various  businesses,  especially  the 
Correspondencia,  and,  mindful  of  his  own  early 
difficulties,  he  has  created  benefit  societies  for  his 
workmen. 

He  who,  being  a  foreigner,  would  attempt  to 
understand  Spanish  politics,  deserves  to  be 
classed  with  the  bravest  leaders  of  forlorn  hopes. 
In  the  first  place,  it  is  doubtful  whether  Spaniards 
understand  them  themselves,  although  they  talk, 
for  the  most  part,  of  nothing  else — except  bulls. 


The  Press  and  its  Leaders    135 

Whenever  and  wherever  two  or  three  men  or 
boys  are  gathered  together,  you  may  be  quite 
certain  as  to  the  subject  of  their  conversation — 
that  is,  if  they  show  signs  of  excitement  and  in- 
terest in  the  matter  under  discussion.  Each  man 
you  meet  gives  you  the  whole  matter  in  a'  nut- 
shell :  he  has  studied  politics  ever  since .  he  was 
able  to  talk;  all  the  other  innumerable  parties 
besides  his  own  are  nada  !  he  can  tell  you  exactly 
what  is  wrong  with  his  country,  and,  what  is 
more,  exactly  how  it  may  all  be  made  right.  The 
only  thing  which  puzzles  one  is  that  all  the  nut- 
shells are  different,  and,  as  there  are  an  unlimited 
number  of  them,  all  that  one  carefully  learns  to- 
day has  to  be  as  carefully  unlearned  to-morrow, 
and  a  fresh  adjustment  made  of  one's  political 
spectacles.  After  all,  however,  this  is  very  much 
what  would  happen  in  any  country  if  we  were 
in  turn  to  sit  at  the  feet  of  successive  teachers, 
and  try  to  bring  their  doctrines  into  any  kind  of 
accord.  The  peculiarity  in  Spain  lies  rather  in 
the  multiplicity  of  private  political  opinions  and 
the  energy  with  which  they  are  expressed,  and 
in  the  fact  that  they  are  all  honest. 

Emerson  has  somewhere  said  that  "  inconsist- 
ency is  the  bugbear  of  little  minds."  The  Span- 
ish politician  has  evidently  not  a  little  mind,  for 
he  has  no  fear  whatever  of  inconsistency,  nor,  in 
fact,  of  making  a  volte-face  whenever  he  sees  any 
reason  for  doing  so.  There  are  Conservatives, 
Liberals,  Republicans,  Radicals,  Socialists,  as  in 


136  Spanish  Life 

other  countries,  but  there  are,  besides  all  these, 
an  infinite  number  of  shades  and  tones  of  each 
political  belief,  each  represented,  as  we  have 
seen,  by  a  newspaper  of  its  own,  and,  for  the 
most  part,  bearing  the  name  of  one  man.  It 
would  seem,  then,  that  you  have  only  to  make 
yourself  acquainted  with  the  opinions,  or  rather 
with  the  political  acts,  of  that  one  man,  and  there 
you  are !  Vain  and  fond  fancy !  He  has  been  a 
rabid  Republican,  perhaps,  or  he  has  belonged,  at 
least,  to  the  party  which  put  up  in  Madrid  in 
conspicuous  letters,  ' '  The  bastard  race  of  the 
Bourbons  is  for  ever  fallen.  Fit  punishment  of 
their  obstinacy!"  but  you  will  find  him  to-day 
lending  all  the  force  of  his  paper  to  the  support  of 
the  Queen  Regent,  and  at  the  same  time  allying 
himself  with  the  various  classes  of  Republicans, 
even  to  the  followers  of  Zorilla,  who  have,  at  any 
rate  till  now,  been  consistent  enemies  and  haters 
of  the  Bourbon. 

Senor  Don  Romero  Robledo,  one  among  the 
politicians  of  the  day  who  possess  the  gift  of  per- 
fect oratory,  so  common  among  his  countrymen,  is 
an  example  of  this  puzzling  "  open  mind."  He 
appeared  first  in  the  character  of  revolutionist  in 
1868 ;  then  he  became  the  Minister  of  the  Interior 
in  Amadeo's  short  reign,  held  somewhat  aloof 
from  the  wild  experiment  in  a  republic  of  Caste- 
lar,  joined  the  party  of  Don  Alfonso  on  the  eve  of 
its  success,  and  supported  Canovas  del  Castillo  in 
his  somewhat  retrograde  policy  in  the  restoration 


The  Press  and  its  Leaders    137 

of  the  very  Bourbon  whom  he  had  announced  as 
"  banished  for  ever, "  and,  in  fact,  by  his  admirable 
genius  for  organising  his  party,  enabled  the  Gov- 
ernment of  Canovas  to  continue  to  exist.  It  is 
said  of  him  that  he  "  buys  men  as  one  would  buy 
sheep,"  and  that  he  will  serve  any  cause  so  long 
as  he  has  the  management  of  it,  or  rather  so  long 
as  he  may  pull  the  wires.  Comte  Vasili  says  of 
him:  "In  politics,  especially  Conservative  politics, 
men  like  Romero  Robledo  are  necessary,  finding 
easily  that  'the  end  justifies  the  means,'  ener- 
getic, ambitious,  always  in  the  breach  opposing 
their  qualities  to  the  invasions  of  the  parties  of 
extremes."  This  was  written  of  him  some  fifteen 
years  ago  by  one  eminently  qualified  to  judge. 
At  the  present  moment  we  find  Seiior  Romero 
Robledo  refusing  office,  but  consulted  by  the 
Queen  Regent  in  every  difficulty.  In  the  late 
crisis,  when  the  Conservative  party  under  Silvela, 
called  into  office  for  the  sake  of  carrying  the  ex- 
tremely unpopular  marriage  of  the  Princess  of 
Asturias  with  the  Count  of  Caserta,  had  nearly 
managed  to  wreck  the  monarchy,  or,  at  any  rate, 
the  regency,  and  to  bring  the  always  dangerous 
clerical  question  to  an  acute  stage  by  suspending 
the  constitutional  guarantees  over  the  whole  of 
Spain,  it  was  Romero  Robledo  who  told  the  Queen 
quite  plainly  that  before  anything  else  could  be 
done  the  guarantees  must  be  restored,  that  the 
liberties  of  the  people  could  not  be  interfered 
with,  and  that,  in  short,  the  Liberal  party  must 


138  Spanish  Life 

be  called  into  office.  Then  we  find  him  holding 
meetings  in  which  Conservatives,  Republicans, 
even  Zorillistas,  all  combined,  enthusiastically  de- 
claring that  they  are  on  the  side  of  order  and 
progress,  agreeing  to  hold  up  England,  under  her 
constitutional  monarch,  as  the  most  really  demo- 
cratic and  free  of  all  nations,  since  in  no  other 
country,  republican  or  otherwise,  is  the  govern- 
ment, as  a  matter  of  fact,  so  entirely  in  the  hands 
of  the  people;  swearing  eternal  enmity  against 
the  interference  of  the  clergy  in  government  or 
in  education,  but  counselling  "  quiet  determina- 
tion without  rancour  or  bigotry  in  dealing  with 
those  of  the  clergy  who  openly,  or  through  the 
confessional,  attempt  to  usurp  authority  which 
it  is  intended  they  shall  never  again  acquire  in 
Spain."  In  fact,  to  read  Sefior  Romero  Robledo's 
discourses  on  these  occasions,  and  the  excellent 
articles  in  the  newspaper  which  represents  his 
views,  El  National,  one  would  imagine  the  Golden 
Age  to  have  dawned  for  Spain.  Liberty,  honour, 
real  religion,  progress  in  science,  art,  manufac- 
tures, trade,  the  purification  of  politics,  the  ideal 
of  good  government — these  are  only  a  few  of  the 
things  to  which  this  amalgamation  of  parties  is 
solemnly  pledged. 

One  thing,  at  least,  is  promising  among  so 
much  that  might  be  put  down  as  "words,  words  ": 
a  general  agreement  as  to  the  wisdom  of  making 
the  best  of  the  present  situation,  opposing  a  firm 
resistance  to  any  attempt  at  a  return  to  absolut- 


The  Press  and  its  Leaders    139 

ism  on  the  part  of  the  monarchy,  or  domination 
in  temporal  matters  by  the  Church;  but  no 
change,  no  more  pronundamientos,  no  more  civil 
wars.  Whenever  the  political  parties  of  a  country 
merge  their  differences  of  opinion  in  one  common 
cause,  the  end  may  be  foreseen.  This  was  what 
happened  in  1868;  and  if  the  party  of  Romero 
Robledo  is  what  it  represents  itself  to  be  and 
holds  together,  we  may  hope  to  see  the  reign  of  the 
young  Alfonso  XIII.  open  with  good  auguries 
this  year  (1902),  as  it  seems  to  be  certain  that  he 
is  to  attain  his  majority  two  years  in  advance  of 
the  usual  time. 

The  life,  political  career,  and  retirement  of 
Emilio  Castelar  is  one  of  the  most  pathetic  pic- 
tures in  history,  and  one  altogether  Spanish  in 
character.  It  was  after  Amadeo  had  thrown 
down  his  crown,  exclaiming,  "A  son  of  Savoy 
does  not  wear  a  crown  on  sufferance!  "  that  the 
small  party  of  Republicans — which  Prim  had  said 
did  not  exist,  and  which  had  in  fact  only  become  a 
party  at  all  during  the  disastrous  period  of  un- 
certainty between  the  expulsion  of  Isabel  II.  and 
the  election  of  the  Italian  prince — edged  its  way 
to  the  front,  and  Castelar  became  the  head  of 
something  much  worse  than  a  paper  constitution 
— a  republic  of  visionaries.  Don  Quijote  de  la 
Mancha  himself  could  scarcely  have  made  a  more 
pure-intentioned  yet  more  unpractical  President. 
Castelar,  with  his  honest,  unsophisticated  opinions 
and  theories,  his  unexampled  oratory,  which  is 


140  Spanish  Life 

said  to  have  carried  away  crowds  of  men  who  did 
not  understand  or  hear  a  word  that  he  said,  with 
the  rhythm  of  his  language,  the  simple  majesty 
and  beauty  of  his  delivery,  launched  the  nation 
into  a  government  that  might  have  been  suited 
to  the  angels  in  heaven,  or  to  what  the  denizens 
of  this  earth  may  become  in  far  distant  aeons  of 
evolution — a  republic  of  dreams,  headed  by  a 
dreamer.  The  awakening  was  rude,  but  it  was 
efficient.  When  Castelar  found  that  in  place  of 
establishing  a  millennium  of  peace  and  universal 
prosperity,  he  had  let  loose  over  the  land  all  the 
elements  of  disorder  and  of  evil,  he  had  the  great- 
ness to  acknowledge  himself  mistaken:  his  own 
reputation  never  troubled  him,  and  he  admitted 
that  the  Cortes,  from  which  he  had  hoped  so 
much,  worked  evil,  not  good.  It  is  said  that  he 
himself  called  on  General  Pavia,  the  Captain- 
General  of  Madrid,  to  clear  them  out.  The  depu- 
ties— Castelar  had  withdrawn — sat  firm:  "  Death 
rather  than  surrender,"  they  cried.  Pavia,  how- 
ever, ordered  his  men  to  fire  once  down  the  empty 
lobbies,  and  the  hint  was  enough:  the  Cortes 
dispersed,  and  Pavia,  had  he  so  minded  it,  might 
have  been  military  dictator  of  Spain.  But  he  had 
no  such  ambition,  though  there  were  not  wanting 
those  who  ascribed  it  to  him. 

As  for  Castelar,  when  angrily  charged  with 
inconsistency,  he  said:  "Charge  me  with  incon- 
sistency, if  you  please.  I  will  not  defend  myself. 
Have  I  the  right  to  prefer  my  own  reputation  to 


The  Press  and  its  Leaders    141 

the  safety  of  my  country  ?  Let  my  name  perish, 
let  posterity  pronounce  its  anathema  against  me, 
let  my  contemporaries  send  me  into  exile!  L,ittle 
care  I!  I  have  lived  long  enough!  But  let  not 
the  Republic  perish  through  my  weaknesses,  and, 
above  all,  let  no  one  say  that  Spain  has  perished 
in  our  hands!  "  Castelar  went  back  to  his  chair 
of  philosophy,  which  he  had  never  resigned,  poor 
as  he  left  it,  to  the  modest  home  and  the  devoted 
sister  whom  he  loved  so  well  —  and  no  one 
laughed !  Is  there  really  any  other  country  than 
Spain  where  such  things  can  happen  ?  His  en- 
thusiasm, his  high-mindedness,  his  failures,  his 
brave  acknowledgment  that  he  had  failed,  were 
accepted  by  the  country  in  the  exact  spirit  in 
which  he  had  offered  himself  to  her  service,  and 
the  memory  of  Castelar  stands  as  high  to-day  as 
ever  it  did  in  the  respectful  admiration  of  his  fel- 
low-countrymen. 


CHAPTER  IX 

POUTICAI,  GOVERNMENT 

THE  Government  of  Spain  ever  since  the  re- 
storation of  Don  Alfonso  XII.  has  been  in 
reality  what  it  was  only  in  name  before — a  consti- 
tutional monarchy.  During  the  first  years  of  the 
young  King's  reign,  Canovas  del  Castillo  being 
Prime  Minister,  there  was  a  distinctly  reactionary 
tendency  from  the  Liberalism  of  Prim  and  the 
revolutionary  party  of  1868.  It  was  almost  im- 
possible that  it  should  be  otherwise,  considering 
the  wild  tumult  of  the  varying  opinions  and  the 
experiments  in  government  that  the  country  had 
passed  through;  and  some  of  the  difficulties  of 
the  situation  to-day  are  no  doubt  due  to  the  con- 
cessions made  to  the  ultra-Conservative  party  in 
the  re-introduction  of  the  religious  orders,  which 
had  been  suppressed  during  the  regency  of  Cris- 
tina,  and  had  never  been  tolerated  even  during 
the  reign  of  the  piadosa,  Isabel  II. 

Prim  had,  from  the  first  moment  that  the  suc- 
cess of  the  Revolution  was  assured  and  the  Queen 
and  her  camarilla  had  crossed  the  frontier  to  seek 
asylum  in  France,  declared  for  a  constitutional 
142 


Political  Government         143 

monarchy.  "  How  can  you  have  a  monarchy 
without  a  king?"  he  was  asked  by  Castelar. 
"  How  can  you  have  a  republic  without  republi- 
cans ! ' '  was  his  reply.  He  might  have  made  him- 
self king  or  military  dictator,  but  he  wanted  to 
be  neither;  nor  would  he  hear  of  Montpensier,  to 
whom  Topete  and  Serrano  had  pledged  them- 
selves. 

The  House  of  Savoy  was  the  next  heir  to  the 
Spanish  throne,  had  the  Bourbons  become  extinct, 
and  to  it  the  first  glances  of  the  Spanish  king- 
maker were  directed,  but  difficulties  arose  from 
the  dislike  of  the  Duke  of  Aosta  himself  to  the 
scheme.  A  prince  of  some  Liberal  country  was 
what  was  wanted:  there  was  even  some  talk  of 
offering  the  crown  to  the  English  Duke  of  Edin- 
burgh, while  one  party  dreamed  of  an  Iberian 
amalgamation,  and  suggested  Dom  Luis  of  Portu- 
gal or  his  father  Dom  Ferdinand,  the  former 
regent.  The  candidature  of  Prince  Leopold  of 
Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen,  who  was  a  Roman 
Catholic,  was  looked  upon  with  a  certain  amount 
of  favour,  but  at  the  eleventh  hour  Napoleon  III. 
made  this  scheme  a  pretext  for  the  quarrel  with 
Prussia  which  led  to  the  fateful  war  of  1870  and 
1871.  Eventually,  almost  two  years  after  the 
outbreak  of  the  Revolution,  Amadeo  of  Savoy 
was  chosen  by  the  Cortes  at  Madrid  by  a  majority 
of  one  hundred  and  five  votes,  only  twenty-three 
being  given  for  Montpensier  and  sixty-three  for 
a  republic. 


H4  Spanish  Life 

On  the  day  that  King  Amadeo  set  foot  on 
Spanish  soil  Prim  was  assassinated;  it  was  per- 
fectly well  known  at  whose  instigation,  and  the 
man  whom  the  Spaniards  themselves  said  was 
demasiado  honesto  (too  honourable)  for  the  hotch- 
potch of  political  parties  into  which  he  was  thrown 
without  a  friend  or  helper,  began  his  vain  effort 
to  rule  a  foreign  nation  in  a  constitutional  man- 
ner. After  he  had  thrown  up  the  thankless  task 
in  despair,  the  absurd  Republic  of  Zorilla  and 
Castelar  made  confusion  worse  confounded,  and 
it  was  with  a  feeling  of  relief  to  all  that  the  pro- 
nunciamiento  of  Martinez  Campos  at  Muviedro 
put  an  end  to  the  Spanish  Republic  under  Ser- 
rano, and  proclaimed  the  son  of  Isabel  II.  as 
King. 

He  was  but  a  lad  of  seventeen,  but  he  had  been 
educated  in  England;  he  was  known  to  be  brave, 
dignified,  and  extremely  liberal,  so  that  he  was 
acclaimed  throughout  Spain,  and  during  his  short 
life  he  fully  justified  the  high  opinion  formed  of 
him.  But  the  Government  of  Canovas  was  re- 
actionary, and  when  the  unexpected  death  of  Al- 
fonzo  XII.  left  his  young  wife,  the  present  Maria 
Cristina  of  Austria,  a  widow  under  exceptionally 
trying  circumstances,  Cdnovas  himself  placed  his 
resignation  in  her  hands,  knowing  that  the  Lib- 
erals were  the  party  of  the  nation,  and  promised 
to  give  his  own  best  efforts  to  work  with  what 
had  up  to  then  been  his  Opposition,  for  the  good 
of  the  country  and  of  the  expected  child,  who  a 


Political  Government         145 

few  months  later  had  the  unusual  experience  of 
being  "  born  a  king." 

Whatever  may  be  said  about  the  present  Regent, 
— though  in  truth  little  but  good  has  been  said  or 
thought  of  her, — she  has  been  most  loyal  to  the 
constitution,  holding  herself  absolutely  aloof  from 
all  favouritism  or  even  apparent  predilection. 
She  has  devoted  her  life  to  the  education  of  her 
son  and  to  his  physical  well-being,  for  he  was  not 
a  strong  child  in  his  early  years,  and  she  has  done 
her  best,  possibly  more  than  any  but  a  woman 
could  have  done,  to  keep  the  ship  of  State  not 
only  afloat,  but  making  headway  during  the 
minority  of  her  son. 

Two  things  militate  against  good  government 
in  Spain,  and  will  continue  to  do  so  until  the 
whole  system  is  changed:  what  is  known  in  the 
country  as  cadquismo,  and  the  pernicious  custom 
of  changing  all  the  Government  officials,  down  to 
the  very  porter  at  the  doors,  with  every  change  of 
ministry.  It  is  much,  however,  that  the  Govern- 
ment does  go  out  in  a  constitutional  manner  in- 
stead of  by  a  military  pronuntiamiento  on  each 
occasion,  as  in  the  old  days;  also  that  a  civilian 
and  not  a  soldier  is  always  at  the  head  of  it.  In 
reality,  there  are  two  great  parties  in  Madrid, 
and  only  two :  the  Empleados  and  the  Cesantes — 
in  plain  English,  the  "Ins"  and  the  "Outs." 
Whatever  ministry  is  in  power  has  behind  it  an 
immense  army  of  provincial  governors,  secretaries, 
clerks,  down  to  the  porters,  and  probably  even  the 


146  Spanish  Life 

charwomen  who  clean  out  the  Government  offices. 
This  state  of  things  is  repeated  over  the  whole 
country,  and  there  is  naturally  created  and  sus- 
tained an  enormous  amount  of  bribery  and  cor- 
ruption, which  is  continually  at  work  discrediting 
all  governments  and  giving  to  Spanish  affairs  that 
"  bad  name"  which,  according  to  our  old  proverb, 
is  as  bad  as  hanging.  The  Cesantes  haunt  certain 
cafes  and  possess  certain  newspapers,  and  the 
Empleados  other  cafh  and  other  papers.  The 
"  Outs"  and  the  "  Ins"  meet  at  night  to  discuss 
their  prospects,  and  wonderful  are  the  stories  in- 
vented at  these  reunions,  some  of  which  even  find 
their  way  into  English  newspapers — if  their  cor- 
respondents are  not  up  to  the  ways  of  Spain — for 
we  read  ludicrous  accounts  of  things  supposed  to 
have  been  taking  place,  and  are  treated  to  solemn 
prophecies  of  events  never  likely  to  occur,  even 
in  first-class  English  journals.  It  is  naturally  the 
interest  of  these  subordinate  employees  of  a 
vicious  system  to  hasten  or  retard  the  day  that 
shall  see  their  respective  chiefs  change  position, 
and  if  a  few  plausible  untruths  can  do  it,  be  as- 
sured they  will  not  be  wanting.  Both  in  the 
popular  novels,  de  coslumbres,  and  in  actual  life, 
it  is  the  commonest  thing  to  hear  a  man  described 
as  a  Cesante,  in  the  same  way  that  we  should 
speak  of  him  as  being  an  engineer  or  a  doctor,  as 
if  being  out  of  place  were  just  as  much  an  em- 
ployment as  any  other. 

One  thing  that  appears  strange  to  a  foreigner 


Political  Government         147 

about  these  Cesantes  is  that  they  never  seem  even 
to  dream  of  seeking  other  employment;  they 
simply  sit  down  to  wait  until  their  particular 
patron  is  "  in  "  again,  and  in  the  old  days  they 
were  a  constant  force  making  for  \hepronuntia- 
miento  which  would  sooner  or  later  make  a  place 
for  them.  As  they  had  no  means  of  existence 
except  when  in  receipt  of  Government  pay,  it  is 
easy  to  understand  that,  according  to  their  views, 
they  had  to  prepare  for  the  evil  day  which  as- 
suredly awaited  them,  by  appropriating  and  exact- 
ing all  the  money  that  was  possible  during  their 
short  reign  of  power.  Probably  the  only  differ- 
ence between  the  highest  and  the  lowest  official 
was  in  the  actual  amount  he  was  able  to  acquire 
when  he  was  "in." 

This  system,  subversive  of  all  efficient  service, 
and  leading  inevitably  to  the  worst  evils  of  mis- 
appropriation of  the  national  funds,  had  perhaps 
its  worst  aspects  in  the  colonies.  A  Government 
berth  in  Cuba  was  a  recognised  means  of  making 
a  fortune,  or  of  rehabilitating  a  man  who  had 
ruined  himself  by  gambling  at  home.  Appoint- 
ments were  made,  not  because  the  man  was  fitted 
for  the  post,  but  because  he  had  influence — fre- 
quently that  of  some  lady — with  the  person  with 
whom  the  appointments  lay,  or  because  he  was  in 
need  of  an  opportunity  for  making  money  easily. 
That  there  have  always  been  statesmen  and  sub- 
ordinate officials  above  all  such  self-seeking,  men 
of  punctilious  honour  and  of  absolutely  clean 


148  Spanish  Life 

hands,  is  known  to  all ;  but  such  men — as  Espar- 
tero,  for  instance — too  often  threw  up  the  sponge, 
and  would  have  naught  to  do  with  governing  nor 
with  office  of  any  description.  Espartero,  who 
is  generally  spoken  of  as  the  "Aristides  of  Spain," 
when  living  in  his  self-sought  retirement  at  L,o- 
grono,  even  refused  to  be  proclaimed  as  King 
during  the  days  when  the  crown  was  going  a- 
begging,  though  he  would  probably  have  been 
acclaimed  as  the  saviour  of  his  country  by  a  large 
majority.  Long  years  of  foreign  kings  and  their 
generally  contemptible  favourites  and  ministers, 
long  years  of  tyranny  and  corruption  in  high 
places,  leavened  the  whole  mass  of  Spanish 
bureaucracy;  but  the  heart  of  the  nation  re- 
mained sound,  and  those  who  would  understand 
Spain  must  draw  a  distinct  line  between  her  pro- 
fessional place-hunters  and  her  people. 

Caciqueism  is  a  mere  consequence  or  outcome 
from  the  state  of  affairs  already  described.  While 
the  deputies  to  the  Cortes  are  supposed  to  be 
freely  elected  as  representatives  by  the  people,  in 
reality  they  are  simply  nominees  of  the  heads  of 
the  two  political  powers  which  have  been  see- 
sawing as  ministers  for  the  last  sixteen  years. 
Two  men  since  the  assassination  of  Cdnovas  have 
alternately  occupied  the  post  of  First  Minister  of 
the  Crown :  Don  Praxadis  Mateo  Sagasta,  one  of 
those  mobile  politicians  who  always  fall  on  their 
feet  whatever  happens,  and  Francisco  Silvela, 
who  may  be  described  as  a  Liberal- Conservative 


Political  Government         149 

in  contrast  to  Cdnovas,  who  was  a  Tory  of  the 
old  school,  and  aspired  to  be  a  despot.  Toryism, 
though  the  word  is  unknown  there,  dies  hard 
in  Spain;  but  there  are  not  wanting  signs  that 
the  Conservatives  of  the  new  school  have  the 
progress  and  emancipation  of  the  country  quite  as 
much  at  heart  as  any  Liberal.  It  was  the  Con- 
servative National  that  in  a  leading  article  of 
March  2Qth  in  1901,  under  the  head  of  "  Vicious 
Customs,"  called  attention  to  the  crowds  of  place- 
hunters  who  invade  the  public  offices  after  a 
change  of  ministry,  and  to  the  barefaced  im- 
pudence of  some  of  their  claims  for  preferment. 
' '  The  remedy  is  in  the  hands  of  the  advisers  of 
the  Crown,"  it  continued.  "  Let  them  shut  the 
doors  of  their  offices  against  influence  and  in- 
trigue, keep  Empleados  of  acknowledged  compe- 
tence permanently  in  their  posts,  and  not  appoint 
new  ones  without  the  conviction  that  they  have 
capacity  and  aptitude  for  the  work  they  will  have 
to  do.  By  this  means,  if  the  problem  be  not  en- 
tirely solved,  it  will  at  least  be  in  train  for  a  solu- 
tion satisfactory  at  once  for  a  good  administration 
and  for  the  highest  interests  of  the  State." 

The  way  in  which  the  wire-pulling  is  done  from 
Madrid,  in  case  of  an  election,  is  through  the 
cacique,  or  chief  person  in  each  constituency; 
hence  the  name  of  the  process.  This  person  may 
be  the  Civil  Governor,  the  Alcalde,  or  merely  a 
rich  landowner  or  large  employer  of  labour  in 
touch  with  the  Government :  the  pressure  brought 


150  Spanish  Life 

to  bear  may  be  of  two  sorts,  taking  the  form  of 
bribery  or  threat.  The  voters  who  hang  on  to 
the  skirts  of  the  cacique  may  hope  for  Government 
employment,  or  they  may  fear  a  sudden  call  to 
pay  up  arrears  of  rent  or  of  taxes;  the  hint  is 
given  from  headquarters,  or  a  Government  candi- 
date is  sent  down.  It  matters  little  how  the  thing 
is  done  so  long  as  the  desired  end  is  accomplished. 
Speaking  of  the  general  election  which  took  place 
last  June,  and  in  which  it  was  well  known  before- 
hand that  the  Liberals  were  to  be  returned  in  a 
large  majority,  one  of  the  Madrid  newspapers 
wrote:  "  The  people  will  vote,  but  assuredly  the 
deputies  sent  up  to  the  Cortes  will  not  be  their 
representatives,  nor  their  choice." 

We,  who  have  for  so  many  years  enjoyed  a 
settled  government,  forget  how  different  all  this 
is  in  a  country  like  Spain,  which  has  oftener  had 
to  be  reproached  for  enduring  bad  government 
than  for  a  readiness  to  effect  violent  changes,  or 
to  try  new  experiments;  but  the  progress  actually 
made  since  the  Revolution  of  1868  has  really  been 
extraordinary,  and  it  has  gone  steadily  forward. 
Spain  has  always  been  celebrated  for  the  making 
of  convenios — a  word  which  is  scarcely  correctly 
translated  by  "  arrangement."  During  the  Carl- 
ist  wars,  the  Government,  and  even  generals  in 
command,  made  convenios  with  the  insurgents  to 
allow  convoys  to  pass  without  interference,  money 
value  sometimes  being  a  factor  in  the  case ;  but 
one  of  the  strangest  of  these  out-of-sight  agree- 


Political  Government         151 

ments,  and  one  which  English  people  never 
understand,  is  that  which  has  existed  almost  ever 
since  the  Restoration  between  the  political  parties 
in  the  Congress,  or,  at  least,  between  their  lead- 
ers. It  is  an  arrangement,  loyally  carried  out, 
by  which  each  party  is  allowed  in  turn  to  come 
into  power.  The  Cortes  is  elected  to  suit  the 
party  whose  turn  it  is  to  be  in  office,  and  there  is 
little  reality  in  the  apparent  differences.  Silvela 
and  Sagasta  go  backwards  and  forwards  with  the 
regularity  of  a  pendulum,  and  the  country  goes  on 
its  way  improving  its  position  daily  and  hourly, 
with  small  thanks  to  its  Government. 

Perhaps  it  is  as  well!  It  gives  assurance,  at 
least,  that  no  particularly  wild  schemes  or  sub- 
versive changes  shall  be  made.  When  one  ad- 
ministration has  almost  wrecked  the  ship,  as  in 
the  Caserta  marriage,  the  other  comes  in  peace- 
fully, and  sets  the  public  mind  at  rest;  both  parties 
wish  for  peace  and  quietness,  and  no  more  revolu- 
tions, and  the  political  seesaw  keeps  the  helm  fairly 
straight  in  ordinary  weather.  To  what  extent 
the  insane  and  disastrous  policy  which  led  to  the 
war  with  America  by  its  shilly-shally  treatment 
of  Cuba,  now  promising  autonomy,  now  putting 
down  the  grinding  heel  of  tyranny,  and  to  what 
extent  the  suicidal  action  of  the  oscillating  parties 
— for  both  share  the  responsibility — in  their  in- 
structions to  their  generals  and  admirals,  and  the 
astounding  unpreparedness  for  war  of  any  kind, 
still  less  with  a  country  like  America,  may  be 


i52  Spanish  Life 

traced  to  this  system  of  "  arrangements,"  which 
allows  one  party  to  hand  its  responsibilities  over 
to  the  other,  one  can  only  guess.  It  is  to  be 
hoped  that  when  the  two  figureheads  at  present 
before  the  country  go  over  to  the  majority,  there 
may  come  to  the  front  some  earnest  and  truly 
patriotic  ministers,  who  have  been  quietly  train- 
ing in  the  school  of  practical  politics,  and  can 
take  the  helm  with  some  hope  of  doing  away  with 
the  crying  evils  of  empleomania  and  catiquismo. 
Until  then  there  will  be  no  political  greatness  for 
Spain. 

The  advance  which  Spain  has  made,  "  in  spite 
of  her  Governments,  and  not  by  their  assistance," 
has  been  remarkable  in  past  years.  Since  the 
beginning  of  the  last  century  she  has  gone  through 
a  series  of  political  upheavals  and  disasters  which 
might  well  have  destroyed  any  country;  and,  in 
fact,  her  division  into  so  many  differing  nationali- 
ties has,  perhaps,  been  her  greatest  safeguard. 
Even  after  the  Revolution  of  1868  the  series  of 
events  through  which  she  passed  was  enough  to 
have  paralysed  her  whole  material  prosperity; 
the  actual  loss  in  materials,  and  still  more  in  the 
lives  of  her  sons,  during  the  fratricidal  wars  at 
home  and  in  her  colonies,  is  incalculable,  and  that 
she  was  not  ruined,  but,  on  the  contrary,  ad- 
vanced steadily  in  industry  and  commerce  during 
the  whole  time,  shows  her  enormous  inherent 
vitality.  Since  then  she  has  undergone  the 
lamentable  war  with  America,  has  lost  her  chief 


Political  Government         153 

colonies,  and  the  Peninsula  has  been  well-nigh 
swamped  by  the  repatriados  from  Cuba,  returning 
to  their  native  country  penniless  and,  in  many 
cases,  worn  out.  And  yet  the  state  of  Spain  was 
never  so  promising,  her  steady  progress  never 
more  assured.  Looking  back  to  the  Revolution, 
it  will  be  enough  to  name  some  of  the  measures 
secured  for  the  benefit  of  the  people.  They  in- 
clude complete  civil  and  religious  liberty,  with 
reforms  in  the  administration  of  the  laws  and  the 
condition  of  prisoners,  liberty  of  education,  and 
the  spread  of  normal  schools  into  every  corner  of 
the  Peninsula,  the  establishment  of  savings  banks 
for  the  poor,  somewhat  on  the  lines  of  England's 
Post  Office  Savings  Bank;  railways  have  received 
an  enormous  impulse;  quays  and  breakwaters 
have  been  erected,  so  that  every  portion  of  the 
kingdom  is  now  in  immediate  touch  with  Madrid; 
while  the  universities  are  sending  forth  daily 
young  men  thoroughly  trained  as  engineers,  elec- 
tricians, doctors,  and  scientists  of  every  variety 
to  take  the  places  which  some  years  ago  were 
almost  necessarily  filled  by  foreigners  for  want  of 
trained  native  talent. 

IvOcal  government  in  the  smaller  towns  of  the 
Peninsula  is  generally  said  to  be  very  good,  and 
to  work  with  great  smoothness  and  efficiency 
hand-in-hand  with  centralised  authority  in  Ma- 
drid. The  fusion  of  the  varying  nationalities  is 
gradually  gaining  ground,  and  the  hard-and-fast 
line  between  the  provinces  is  disappearing. 


154  Spanish  Life 

There  is  more  nationality  now  in  matters  of  every- 
day life  than  there  has  ever  been  before.  In  old 
times  it  needed  the  touch  of  a  foreign  hand,  the 
threat  of  foreign  interference,  to  rouse  the  nation 
as  one  man.  Commerce  and  industry  and  the 
national  emulation  between  province  and  province 
are  doing  gradually  what  it  once  needed  the 
avarice  of  a  Napoleon  to  evoke. 

The  paper  constitutions  of  Spain  have  been 
many,  beginning  with  that  of  1812,  which  the 
Liberals  tried  to  force  on  Ferdinand  VII.,  to  that 
of  1845,  which  the  Conservatives  look  upon  as 
the  ideal,  or  that  of  1869,  embodying  all  that  the 
Revolution  had  gained  from  absolutism,  includ- 
ing manhood  suffrage.  In  the  first  Cortes  sum- 
moned after  the  Restoration,  thanks  to  the  good 
sense  of  Castelar,  the  Republican  party,  from 
being  conspirators,  became  a  parliamentary  party 
in  opposition.  Zorilla  alone,  looking  upon  it  as  a 
sham,  retired  to  France  in  disgust.  By  the  new 
constitution  of  1876,  the  power  of  making  laws 
remained,  as  before,  vested  in  the  Cortes  and  the 
Crown:  the  Senate  consists  of  three  classes, 
Grandes,  Bishops,  and  high  officers  of  State  sit- 
ting by  right,  with  one  hundred  members  nomi- 
nated by  the  Crown,  and  one  hundred  and  eighty 
elected  by  provincial  Councils,  universities,  and 
other  corporations.  Half  of  the  elected  members 
go  out  every  five  years.  The  deputies  to  the 
Congress  are  elected  by  indirect  vote  on  a  resi- 
dential manhood  suffrage,  and  they  number  four 


Political  Government         155 

hundred  and  thirty-one.  A  certain  number  of 
equal  electoral  districts  of  fifty  thousand  inhabit- 
ants elect  one  member  each;  and  twenty-six  large 
districts,  having  several  representatives,  send 
eighty-eight  members  to  the  Cortes.  Every  prov- 
ince has  its  provincial  elective  Council,  managing 
its  local  affairs,  and  each  commune  its  separate 
District  Council,  with  control  over  local  taxation. 
Yet,  though  ostensibly  free,  these  local  bodies  are 
practically  in  the  power  of  the  political  wire- 
puller, or  cacique. 


CHAPTER  X 

COMMERCE    AND  AGRICULTURE 

COMMERCE  and  industry  had  progressed  by 
leaps  and  bounds  even  during  the  disastrous 
and  troublous  years  between  the  expulsion  of 
Isabel  II.  and  the  restoration  of  her  son.  The 
progress  is  now  much  more  steady  and  more  dif- 
fused over  the  whole  country,  but  it  is  by  no 
means  less  remarkable,  especially  taking  into  con- 
sideration the  disaster  of  the  war  with  America 
and  the  loss  to  Spain  of  her  old  colonies. 

Among  her  politicians  in  past  times  there  were 
never  wanting  those  who  considered  that  the 
loss  of  Cuba  would  be  a  distinct  gain  to  the 
mother  country,  and  perhaps  it  may  be  safely  said 
that  since  the  colony  had  not  only  been  for  so 
many  years  the  forcing-house  of  bureaucratic  cor- 
ruption, but  had  also  drained  the  resources  of 
Spain  both  of  money  and  lives  to  the  extreme 
limit  of  her  possibility,  she  is  more  likely  now  to 
regain  her  old  position  among  European  nations, 
when  left  at  peace  to  develop  her  enormous  re- 
sources and  set  her  house  in  order  without  the 
distraction  of  war,  either  at  home  or  abroad. 

156 


Commerce  and  Agriculture    157 

When  one  remembers  that  this  happy  condition 
has  never  obtained  in  the  country  since  the  death 
of  Ferdinand  VII.  until  the  close  of  the  Spanish- 
American  War,  and  that  the  country  is  only  now 
recovering  from  the  disorganisation  caused  by  the 
return  of  her  troops  and  refugees  from  Cuba  and 
Manila,  it  is  not  surprising  to  find  that  the  activ- 
ity manifested  in  her  trade,  her  manufactures, 
and  her  industries  is  such  as  to  give  the  greatest 
hopes  for  her  future  to  her  own  people  and  to 
those  who  watch  her  from  afar  with  friendly  eyes. 

Whichever  we  may  regard  as  cause  or  effect,  the 
progress  of  the  country  has  been  very  largely 
identified  with  the  extension  of  her  railway  sys- 
tem. It  must  have  been  a  great  step  towards 
liberal  education  when  the  country  which,  priding 
herself  on  her  geographical  position  and  her 
rich  internal  resources,  had  hitherto  wrapped 
herself  in  her  national  capa,  and  considered  that 
she  was  amply  sufficient  to  herself,  conde- 
scended to  throw  open  her  mountain  barriers  to 
immigrants.  It  was  not  until  1848  that  the  first 
Spanish  railway  was  opened,  and  it  was  but 
seventeen  miles  in  length;  but  in  the  next  ten 
years  five  hundred  miles  had  been  constructed, 
and  between  1858  and  1868  no  fewer  than  two 
thousand  eight  hundred  and  five  miles,  the  Py- 
renees had  been  pierced,  and  direct  communica- 
tion with  the  rest  of  Europe  accomplished. 

During  the  troublous  years  following  the  Revo- 
lution and  the  melancholy  struggles  of  the  second 


158  Spanish  Life 

Carlist  war,  very  little  progress  was  made.  For- 
eign capital,  which  had  hitherto  been  invested  in 
Spanish  railways,  was  naturally  frightened  away, 
and  the  Northern  Railway  itself,  the  great  artery 
to  France,  was  constantly  being  torn  up  and  dam- 
aged, and  the  lives  of  the  passengers  endangered, 
by  the  armed  mobs  which  infested  the  country, 
and  were  supposed  by  some  people  to  represent 
the  cause  of  legitimacy,  and  which  had,  in  fact, 
the  sanction  of  the  Church  and  of  the  Pope.  It 
was  not,  in  the  majority  of  cases,  that  the  people 
sympathised  with  Don  Carlos,  but  it  was  easier 
and  more  amusing  for  the  lazy  and  the  ne'er- 
do-weels  to  receive  pay  and  rations  for  carry- 
ing a  gun,  and  taking  pot-shots  at  any  object 
that  presented  itself,  human  or  other,  than  to 
work  in  the  fields,  the  mines,  or  on  the  rail- 
ways. Hence  public  enterprise  was  paralysed; 
again  and  again  the  workmen,  with  no  desire  of 
their  own,  were  driven  off  by  superior  bands  of 
these  wandering  shooters,  who  scarcely  deserved 
even  the  name  of  guerillas,  and  public  works 
were  left  deserted  and  decaying,  while  the  com- 
merce and  industry  of  the  province  were  wrecked, 
and  apparently  destroyed  irrevocably. 

In  the  earlier  stages  of  railway  construction 
and  management,  French  capital  and  French 
labour  were  employed.  England  held  aloof, 
partly  on  account  of  the  closing  of  the  London 
Stock  Exchange  to  Spanish  enterprises,  in  con- 
sequence of  the  vexed  question  of  the  celebrated 


Commerce  and  Agriculture    159 

coupons,  but  also  because  the  aid  afforded  by  the 
State  did  not  fall  in  with  the  ideas  of  English 
capitalists.  They  desired  a  guaranteed  rate  of 
interest,  while  the  Spanish  Government  would 
have  nothing  but  a  subvention  paid  down  in  one 
lump  sum,  arguing  that  it  would  be  impossible  to 
tell  when  a  line  was  making  more  than  the  guar- 
anteed interest,  "  as  the  companies  would  so 
arrange  their  accounts  as  to  show  invariably  an 
interest  smaller  than  that  guaranteed!"  With 
this  view  of  the  honesty  of  their  own  officials,  no 
one  else  could  be  expected  to  have  a  better 
opinion  of  them;  and  England  allowed  France 
and  Belgium  thenceforward  to  find  all  the  capital 
and  all  the  materials  for  Spanish  railways. 

The  total  amount  of  subventions  actually  paid 
by  Government  up  to  December  31,  1882,  was 
^"24,529, 148.  "  If,"  says  the  author  of  Commer- 
cial and  Industrial  Spain,  ' '  the  money  that  we  so 
candidly  lent  to  the  swarm  of  defaulting  South 
American  Republics  had  been  properly  invested 
in  Spanish  railways,  a  great  deal  of  trouble  might 
probably  have  been  spared  to  the  unfortunate  in- 
vestors." 

All  that,  however,  is  altered  now:  the  State 
schools  and  universities  are  turning  out  daily 
well- equipped  native  engineers,  both  for  railway 
and  mining  works,  and  Spaniards  are  finding 
their  own  capital  for  public  works.  The  phrase 
"Spain  for  the  Spaniards"  is  acquiring  a  new 
significance — perhaps  the  most  hopeful  of  all  the 


160  Spanish  Life 

signs  of  progress  the  country  is  making.  In  1899, 
there  were  working  12,916  kilometres  of  railways, 
or  7.9  ki!6metros  for  each  10,000  of  the  population. 
A  ki!6metro  equals  1.609  English  mile.  There 
is  no  part  of  the  country  now  isolated,  either  from 
the  centre  of  government  in  Madrid,  or  from  the 
coast,  and  communication  with  Portugal,  and, 
through  France,  with  the  rest  of  Europe,  is  easy 
and  constant.  With  this  advance  in  means  of 
transit,  the  trade  of  the  country  has  received  an 
immense  impulse,  and  its  raw  and  manufactured 
goods  are  now  reaching  all  markets. 

The  rich  mineral  wealth  of  the  country  and  its 
wonderful  climate  only  need  enlightened  enter- 
prise to  make  Spain  one  of  the  richest  and  most 
important  commercial  factors  in  the  world's  trade. 
The  list  of  minerals  alone,  raised  from  mines  in 
working,  amounts  to  twenty-two,  ranging  from 
gold  and  silver,  copper,  tin,  zinc,  quick-silver, 
salt,  coal,  etc.,  to  cobalt  and  antimony ;  and  8,313,- 
218  tons  of  minerals  of  all  these  twenty-two  classes 
were  raised  in  1882  against  1,201,054  in  1862. 
The  value  of  mines  in  1880  was  represented  by  one 
hundred  and  eleven  millions  of  pesetas  (francs), 
but  in  1898  by  three  hundred  and  nineteen  mil- 
lions (pesetas).  The  value  of  imports  in  1882 
was  816,666,901  pesetas,  and  of  exports  765,376,- 
087  pesetas.  In  1899,  imports  were  1,045,391,983, 
and  exports  864,367,885.  But  this  is  taking 
exactly  the  period  covered  by  the  war  with 
America;  a  fairer  estimate  of  exports  is  that  of 


Commerce  and  Agriculture    161 

1897,  which  stood  at  1,074,883,372.  No  state- 
ment has  been  published  since  1899,  but  inter- 
mediate statistics  show  the  trade  of  the  country 
to  be  advancing  rapidly. 

To  return,  however,  to  Spanish  industries. 
In  late  years  large  smelting-works  have  been 
opened  in  Spain,  with  Spanish  capital  and  man- 
agement, while  at  Bilbao  are  large  iron-works  for 
the  manufacture  of  steel  rails.  There  are  splen- 
did deposits  of  iron  in  the  country,  and  as  the 
duty  on  foreign  rails  entering  Spain  is  ^3  45.  per 
ton,  it  is  probable  that  the  near  future  will  see 
the  country  free  from  the  necessity  of  importing 
manufactured  iron,  or,  in  fact,  metal  of  any  kind. 
A  Catalan  company  has  established  important 
works  for  reducing  the  sulphur  of  the  rich  mines 
near  I/>rca,  and  confidently  expects  to  produce 
some  thirty  thousand  tons  of  sulphur  per  annum. 
The  rich  silver  mines  of  the  Sierra  Almagrera  are 
almost  wholly  in  native  hands,  and  have  already 
yielded  large  fortunes  to  the  owners.  With  the 
present  improved  transport  and  shipping  facilities 
in  every  part  of  the  country,  it  is  probable  that 
the  valuable  mines  scattered  all  over  the  Penin- 
sula will  be  thoroughly  worked,  to  the  advance 
of  commercial  and  industrial  interests  over  the 
entire  country. 

While  the  seaboard  provinces  are  rich  in  fish- 
eries, as  well  as  in  mines,  in  the  south  the  country 
is  able  to  grow  rice,  sugar-cane,  maize,  raisins, 
as  well  as  wheat,  olives,  oranges,  grapes,  dates, 


1 62  Spanish  Life 

bananas,  pine-apples,  and  almost  all  kinds  of 
tropical  fruits.  The  cultivation  of  all  varieties  of 
fruit  and  vegetables,  and  their  careful  gathering 
and  packing  have  become  the  object  of  many  large 
companies  and  private  individuals.  Dates,  ba- 
nanas, grapes,  plums,  tomatoes,  melons,  as  well  as 
asparagus  and  other  early  vegetables,  are  now 
being  shipped  to  foreign  markets  as  regular 
articles  of  trade,  in  a  condition  which  insures  a 
rapid  and  increasing  sale.  The  exportation  of 
fruit  has  doubled  within  the  last  few  years.  The 
production  of  cane  sugar  in  1899  was  thirty-one 
thousand  tons,  or  exactly  three  times  the  amount 
of  that  produced  in  1889.  The  exportation  of 
wine,  which  in  1894  was  two  millions  of  milelitros, 
was  in  1898  nearly  five  millions,  and  it  is  daily 
increasing  (one  gallon  English  measure  equals 
about  four  and  one  half  litres). 

Spain  has  always  had  excellent  wines  unknown 
to  other  countries,  besides  that  which  is  manu- 
factured into  what  we  know  as  "sherry";  but 
many  of  them  were  so  carelessly  made  as  to 
be  unfit  for  transit  abroad.  The  attention  of 
wine-growers  has,  however,  been  steadily  turned 
to  this  subject  during  the  last  twenty  years; 
greater  care  has  been  taken  in  the  production; 
the  best  methods  have  been  ascertained  and  fol- 
lowed, and  it  is  possible  now  to  obtain  undoctored 
Spanish  wines  which  perfectly  bear  the  carriage 
in  cask  without  injury;  and,  to  meet  a  direct  sale 
to  the  customer,  small  barrels  containing  about 


Commerce  and  Agriculture    163 

twelve  gallons  are  shipped  from  Tarragona  and 
other  ports  to  England. 

One  of  the  most  hopeful  signs  of  the  economic 
awakening  of  the  country  is  the  establishment  of 
the  Boletin  de  la  Cdmara  de  Comerdo  de  Espana  en 
la  Gran  Bretdna,  published  each  month  in  I/ondon. 

In  this  little  commercial  circular  a  review  is 
given  of  the  commerce  and  industry  of  all  nations 
during  the  month ;  all  fluctuations  are  noted,  ex- 
tracts from  foreign  statistics  or  money  articles 
given,  suggestions  made  for  the  opening  up  of 
Spanish  commerce,  and  the  introduction  of  her 
manufactures  into  this  and  other  countries. 
Speaking  on  the  question  of  the  introduction  of 
pure  Spanish  wines  into  England,  a  recent  writer 
in  the  Boletin  remarks  that  English  workmen  are 
thirsty  animals,  that  they  like  a  big  drink,  but 
they  are  not  really  desirous  of  becoming  intoxi- 
cated by  it.  In  fact,  they  would  most  of  them 
prefer  to  be  able  to  drink  more  without  bad  effects. 
The  writer  goes  on  to  say  that  if  the  English 
workman  could  obtain  pure  wine  that  would  cost 
no  more  than  his  customary  beer,  and  would  not 
make  him  intoxicated,  and  if  Spanish  light  wines 
— which  he  says  could  be  sold  in  England  for  less 
than  good  beer — were  offered  in  tempting-looking 
taverns  and  under  pleasant  conditions,  he  believes 
that  a  really  enormous  trade  would  be  the  result, 
to  the  benefit  of  both  nations.  The  suggestion 
is,  at  least,  an  interesting  one,  and  though  the 
scheme  would  certainly  not  benefit  the  habitual 


164  Spanish  Life 

drunkard,  who  becomes  enamoured  of  his  own 
debauchery,  it  might  be  very  welcome  to  many 
of  the  working  people,  who,  as  "  our  neighbour  " 
quaintly  remarks,  like  a  big  drink,  but  do  not 
necessarily  wish  to  become  intoxicated. 

In  this  connection,  it  may  be  interesting  to  know 
that  the  small  twelve-gallon  casks  of  red  wine,  re- 
sembling Burgundy  rather  than  claret,  but  less 
heavy  than  the  Australian  wines,  and  forming  a 
delicious  drink  with  water,  are  delivered  at  one's 
own  door  carriage  free  for  a  price  which  works 
out,  including  duty,  at  8%d,  the  ordinary  bottle, 
or  is.  2d.  the  flagon,  such  as  the  Australian  wine 
is  sold  in.  This  is,  in  fact,  cheaper  than  good 
stout  or  ale. 

Spain  has  always  been  celebrated  for  two  special 
manufactures — her  silk  and  woollen  goods;  but 
for  very  many  years  these  have  been  almost  un- 
known beyond  her  own  boundaries.  In  the  time 
of  the  Moors  her  silken  goods  had  a  world-wide 
fame;  and  the  silk- worm  has  been  cultivated  there 
probably  from  the  earliest  days,  when  it  was  sur- 
reptitiously introduced  into  Europe.  Groves  of 
mulberry  trees  were  grown  especially  for  sericul- 
ture in  the  irrigated  provinces  of  the  South,  the 
care  of  the  insect  being  undertaken  by  the  wo- 
men, while  the  men  were  employed  on  tasks  more 
suitable  to  their  strength.  Native-grown  spun 
and  woven  silk  forms  such  an  important  part  in 
the  national  costumes  of  the  people  that  it  has 
attained  to  great  perfection  without  attracting 


Commerce  and  Agriculture    165 

much  foreign  notice.  The  silk  petticoats  of  the 
women,  the  velvet  jackets  and  trunk  hose  of  the 
men,  the  beautiful  silk  and  woollen  manias,  with 
their  deep  fringes  of  silken  or  woollen  balls;  the 
madronos,  or  silk  tufts  and  balls,  used  as  decora- 
tions for  the  Andalusian  or  the  gypsy  hats,  not 
to  mention  the  beautifully  soft  and  pure  silks  of 
Barcelona,  or  the  silk  laces  made  in  such  perfec- 
tion in  many  parts  of  the  country, — all  these  are 
objects  of  merchandise  only  needing  to  be  known, 
to  occasion  a  large  demand,  especially  in  these 
days  when  the  French  invention  of  weighted 
dyes  floods  the  Knglish  market  with  something 
that  has  the  outward  appearance  of  silk,  but 
which  does  not  even  wait  for  wear  to  disclose  its 
real  nature,  but  rots  into  holes  on  the  drapers' 
shelves,  and  would-be  smart  young  women  of 
slender  purses  walk  about  in  what  has  been 
well  called  "  tin  attire,"  in  the  manufacture  of 
which  the  silk-worm  has  had  only  the  slenderest 
interest. 

The  blankets  and  rugs  of  Palencia  have  been 
known  to  some  few  English  people  for  many 
years,  owing  to  their  extreme  lightness,  great 
warmth,  and  literally  unending  wear;  but  it  is 
only  within  the  last  very  few  years  that  they  can 
be  said  to  have  had  any  market  at  all  in  England, 
and  now  they  are  called  "  Pyrenean  "  rather  than 
Spanish  goods.  One  of  the  suggestions  of  the 
little  commercial  circular  already  referred  to  is 
that  Spaniards  should  open  depots  or  special 


1 66  Spanish  Life 

agencies  all  over  England  for  the  sale  of  their 
woollen  goods,  after  the  manner  of  the  Jaeger 
Company. 

The  flocks  of  merino  sheep  to  be  seen  on  the 
wooded  slopes  of  the  Pyrenees,  and  all  over  Estre- 
madura,  following  their  shepherd  after  the  man- 
ner with  which  Old  Testament  history  makes  us 
familiar,  are  said  to  be  direct  descendants  of  the 
old  Arabian  flocks,  and  certainly  the  appearance 
of  one  of  these  impassive-looking  shepherds  lead- 
ing his  flock  to  "  green  pastures,  and  beside  the 
still  waters,"  takes  one  back  in  the  world's  history 
in  a  way  that  few  other  things  do.  The  flock 
know  the  voice  of  their  shepherd,  and  follow  him 
unquestioningly  wheresoever  he  goes;  there  is  no 
driving,  no  hurrying;  and  the  same  may  be  said 
of  the  pigs,  which  form  such  an  important  item 
in  the  social  economy  of  a  Spanish  peasant's 
home. 

Staying  once  at  Castellon  de  la  Plana,  in  Va- 
lencia, my  delight  was  to  watch  the  pig-herd  and 
his  troop.  Early  in  the  morning,  at  a  fixed  hour, 
he  issued  from  his  house  in  one  of  the  small  alleys, 
staff  in  hand,  and  with  a  curious  kind  of  horn  or 
whistle.  This  he  blew  as  he  walked  along,  from 
time  to  time,  without  turning  his  head,  in  that 
strange  trance  of  passivity  which  distinguishes 
the  Valencian  peasant.  Out  from  dark  corners, 
narrow  passages,  mud  hovels  on  all  sides,  came 
tearing  along  little  pigs,  big  pigs,  dark,  light,  fat, 
thin  pigs, — pigs  of  every  description, — and  joined 


Commerce  and  Agriculture    167 

the  procession  headed  by  this  sombre-looking 
herdsman,  with  his  long  stick  and  his  blue-and- 
white  striped  manta  thrown  over  his  shoulder. 
By  the  time  he  had  reached  the  end  of  the  village 
he  had  a  large  herd  following  him.  Then  the 
whole  party  slowly  disappeared  in  the  distance, 
under  the  groves  of  cork-trees  or  up  the  mountain 
paths.  The  evening  performance  was  more  amus- 
ing still.  Just  about  sundown  the  stately  herds- 
man again  appeared  with  his  motley  following. 
He  took  no  manner  of  notice  of  them.  He  stalked 
majestically  towards  his  own  particular  hovel,  and 
at  each  corner  of  a  lane  or  group  of  cottages  the 
pigs  said  "  Good  night  "  to  each  other  by  a  kick- 
up  of  their  heels  and  a  whisk  of  their  curly  little 
tails,  and  scampered  off  home  by  themselves, 
until,  at  the  end  of  the  village,  only  one  solitary 
pig  was  following  his  leader  —  probably  they 
shared  one  home  between  them.  It  seemed  a 
peaceful,  if  not  an  absolutely  happy,  life! 

One  would  expect  a  country  with  such  a  cli- 
mate, or  rather  with  so  many  climates,  as  Spain, 
to  make  a  great  feature  of  agriculture.  It  can  at 
once  produce  wheat  of  the  very  finest  quality, 
wine,  oil,  rice,  sugar,  and  every  kind  of  fruit  and 
vegetable  that  is  known ;  and  it  ought  to  be  able 
to  support  a  large  agricultural  population  in  com- 
fort, and  export  largely.  Taking  into  account, 
also,  the  rich  mineral  wealth,  which  should  make 
her  independent  of  imports  of  this  nature,  it  is 
sad  to  see  that  in  past  years,  even  so  late  as  1882, 


1 68  Spanish  Life 

wheat  and  flour,  coal  and  coke,  iron  and  tools 
figure  amongst  her  imports — the  first  two  in  very 
large  proportions.  Although  the  vast  plains  of 
Kstremadura  and  Castile  produce  the  finest  wheat 
known  to  commerce,  the  quantity,  owing  to  the 
want  of  water,  is  so  small  in  relation  to  the  acre- 
age under  cultivation,  that  it  does  not  suffice  for 
home  consumption,  except  in  very  favourable 
years;  while  the  utilisation  of  the  magnificent 
rivers,  which  now  roll  their  waters  uselessly  to 
the  sea,  would  make  the  land  what  it  once  was 
when  the  thrifty  Moor  held  it — a  thickly  popu- 
lated and  flourishing  grain-producing  district. 
In  place  of  the  wandering  flocks  of  sheep  and 
pigs  gaining  a  precarious  existence  on  the  herbage 
left  alive  by  the  blistering  sun  on  an  arid  soil, 
there  should  be  smiling  homesteads  and  blooming 
gardens  everywhere,  trees  and  grateful  shade 
where  now  the  ground,  between  the  rainy,  sea- 
sons, becomes  all  of  one  dusty,  half-burnt  colour, 
reminding  one  more  of  the  "  back  of  a  mangy 
camel,"  as  it  has  been  described,  than  of  a  coun- 
try that  has  once  been  fruitful  and  productive. 

The  late  General  Concha,  Marques  del  Duero, 
was  the  originator  of  sugar-cane  cultivation.  He 
spent  a  large  portion  of  his  private  fortune  in 
establishing  what  bids  fair  to  be  one  of  the  most 
productive  industries  of  his  country.  But,  like 
most  pioneers  of  progress,  he  reaped  no  benefit 
himself.  His  fine  estates  near  Malaga,  with  their 
productive  cane-farms,  passed  into  other  hands 


Commerce  and  Agriculture    169 

before  he  had  reaped  the  reward  of  his  patriotic 
endeavours.  For  a  long  time  the  cheap,  bounty- 
fed  beet  sugars  of  Germany,  which  never  approach 
beyond  being  an  imitation  of  real  sugar — as  every 
housewife  can  testify  who  has  tried  to  make  jam 
with  them — were  able  to  undersell  the  produce  of 
the  cane;  but  the  latest  statistics  show  that  this 
industry  is  now  making  steady  progress,  the  pro- 
duction of  1899  being  thirty-one  thousand  tons, 
or  exactly  three  times  that  of  1899.  A  propos  of 
the  difference  between  cane  and  beet  sugars  for 
all  domestic  purposes,  and  the  superior  cheapness 
of  the  more  costly  article,  it  is  satisfactory  to  note 
that  in  England  the  working  classes,  through 
their  own  co-operative  societies,  insist  on  being 
supplied  with  the  former,  knowing  by  experimen- 
tal proof  its  immense  superiority;  and  one  may 
hope  that  their  wisdom  may  spread  into  house- 
holds where  the  servants  pull  the  wires,  and  care 
nothing  about  economy. 

Looking  at  the  ordinary  map  of  Spain,  it  ap- 
pears to  be  ridiculous  to  say  that  the  greater  part 
of  the  country  b  in  want  of  water.  Although  it 
is  intersected  by  three  large  ranges  of  mountains 
beyond  the  Pyrenees,  and  innumerable  others  of 
smaller  dimensions,  thus  making  a  great  propor- 
tion of  the  country  impossible  for  agriculture,  it 
is  rich  in  magnificent  rivers  and  in  smaller  ones, 
all  of  which  are  allowed  to  run  to  waste  in  many 
parts  of  the  country,  while  even  a  small  portion 
of  their  waters,  artificially  dammed  and  utilised 


1 70  Spanish  Life 

for  irrigation,  if  only  of  the  lands  lying  on  each 
side  of  them,  would  mean  wealth  and  prosperity 
and  an  abounding  population  where  now  the 
"everlasting  sun"  pours  its  rays  over  barren 
wastes.  Moreover,  by  the  growth  of  the  wood, 
which  once  covered  the  plains  and  has  been  cut 
down,  little  by  little,  until  the  whole  surface  of 
the  land  was  changed,  in  process  of  time  the 
climate  would  become  less  dry,  and  vegetation 
more  rapid  and  easy. 

Ever  since  the  expulsion  of  the  Moors  from 
Castile  and  Bstremadura,  the  land  has  been 
allowed  gradually  to  go  almost  out  of  cultivation 
for  want  of  water,  the  wholesale  devastation  of 
forests,  in  combination  with  the  lapse  of  all  irriga- 
tion, acting  as  a  constantly  accelerating  cause  for 
the  arid  and  unproductive  condition  of  the  once 
genial  soil.  Irrigation  has  been  the  crying  want 
of  Spain  for  generations  past ;  but  even  now  the 
Government  scarcely  seems  to  have  awakened  to 
its  necessity.  Perhaps,  however,  the  Spaniard 
who  goes  on  his  way,  never  troubling  to  listen  to 
the  opinion  or  advice  of  his  neighbour,  has  not, 
after  all,  been  so  wanting  in  common  sense  as 
some  of  the  more  energetic  of  his  critics  have 
thought.  In  spite  of  all  the  changes  and  disasters 
of  successive  Governments,  a  steady  and  rapid  ad- 
vance has  been  made  in  providing  means  of  trans- 
port and  shipping,  by  the  construction  of  railways 
to  every  part  of  the  country,  the  making  and 
keeping  in  condition  of  admirable  highways,  and 


Commerce  and  Agriculture    i?1 

the  building  of  breakwaters  and  quays  in  many 
of  the  seaports,  so  that  now  the  output  of  the 
mines  and  produce  of  all  kinds  can  find  market 
within  the  country,  or  be  shipped  abroad  freely. 

If  the  money  no  longer  being  expended  in  rail- 
ways and  docks  were  now  devoted  to  irrigation 
wherever  it  is  needed,  a  rapid  change  would  be- 
come apparent  over  the  whole  face  of  the  country, 
and  the  population  would  increase  in  proportion 
as  the  land  would  bear  it.  Irrigation  works  have 
been  more  than  once  undertaken  by  the  aid  of 
foreign  money,  and  under  the  charge  of  foreign 
engineers;  but  the  people  themselves — the  land- 
owners and  peasant  proprietors — were  not  ripe  for 
it,  and,  alas!  some  of  the  canals  which  would 
have  turned  whole  valleys  into  gardens  have  been 
allowed  to  go  to  ruin,  or  to  become  actually 
obliterated,  while  the  scanty  crops  are  raised  once 
in  two  or  three  years  from  the  same  soil,  which 
will  yield  three  crops  in  one  year  by  the  help  of 
water.  Difficulties  arose  about  the  sale  of  the 
water — a  prolific  cause  of  dispute  even  in  the  old 
irrigated  districts — and  the  people  said:  "What 
do  we  want  with  .water,  except  what  comes  from 
heaven  ?  If  the  Virgin  thinks  we  want  water, 
she  sends  it."  Fitting  result  of  the  teaching  of 
the  Church  for  so  many  years,  with  the  example 
ever  held  up  for  admiration  of  the  patron  saint, 
Isidro,  who  knelt  all  day  at  his  prayers,  and  left 
the  tilling  of  his  fields  to  the  angels !  It  would 
seem  that  these  ministers  of  grace  are  not  good 


172  Spanish  Life 

husbandmen,  since  the  land  became  the  arid 
waste  it  now  is,  while  successive  Isidros  have 
been  engaged  in  religious  duties,  which  they  were 
taught  were  all  that  was  necessary. 

As  an  example  of  what  irrigation  means  in  the 
sunlit  fields  of  Spain,  an  acre  of  irrigable  land  in 
Valencia  or  Murcia  sells  for  prices  varying  from 
^150  to  ^400,  according  to  its  quality  or  its  situa- 
tion, while  laud  not  irrigable  only  fetches  sums 
varying  from  £7  to  £20.  In  Castile,  land  would 
not  in  any  case  fetch  so  high  a  price  as  that  which 
has  been  under  irrigated  cultivation  for  centuries 
past;  but  in  any  district  the  value  of  dry  land  is 
never  more  than  a  twelfth  of  what  it  is  when 
irrigable.  In  truth,  however,  there  is  more  than 
irrigation  needed  to  bring  the  lands  of  Castile 
and  Estremadura  into  profitable  cultivation,  and 
it  cannot  be  done  without  the  expenditure  of  large 
sums  of  money  at  the  outset  in  manures,  and  good 
implements  in  place  of  the  obsolete  old  imple- 
ments with  which  the  ground  is  now  scratched 
rather  than  ploughed.  Given  good  capital  and 
intelligent  farming,  as  in  the  irrigated  districts, 
and  two,  and  even  three,  crops  a  year  can  be 
raised  in  unceasing  succession;  lucern  gives  from 
ten  to  twelve  cuttings  in  one  year,  fifteen  days 
being  sufficient  for  the  growth  of  a  new  crop. 

I  have  pointed  out  what  one  day's  sun  can  do 
in  raising  grass  seed  in  Madrid,  which  stands  on 
the  highest  point  of  the  elevated  table-land  oc- 
cupying the  centre  of  Spain.  Seeing  that  the 


Commerce  and  Agriculture    173 

principal  item  of  the  revenue  is  derived  from  the 
land  tax,  and  that  it  is  calculated  on  the  value  of 
the  land,  it  would  appear  to  be  the  first  interest 
of  an  enlightened  government  to  foster  irrigation 
in  every  possible  way,  and  encourage  agriculture 
and  the  planting  of  trees. 

Although  the  people  of  Spain  have  hated  their 
more  immediate  neighbours  with  an  exceeding 
bitter  hatred, — as,  indeed,  they  had  good  cause  to 
do  in  the  past, — her  public  men  have  had  a  strange 
fancy  for  importing  or  imitating  French  customs. 
One  that  militates  more  than  anything  else  against 
agricultural  prosperity  is  the  law  of  inheritance, 
copied  from  the  French.  By  this  the  State  divides 
an  estate  amongst  the  heirs  without  any  reference 
to  the  wishes  of  the  proprietor  at  his  death.  Not 
only  are  all  large  estates  broken  up  and  practically 
dissipated,  so  that  it  is  to  no  one's  interest  to  im- 
prove his  property  or  spend  money  on  it,  but  the 
small  farms  of  the  peasant  proprietor  are  broken 
into  smaller  fragments  in  the  same  way;  and  it  is 
no  uncommon  thing  to  see  a  field  of  a  few  acres 
divided  into  six  or  eight  furrows,  none  of  them 
enough  to  support  one  man.  While  he  has  to  go 
off  seeking-  work  where  he  can  get  it,  his  strip  of 
land  clings  to  him  like  a  curse,  for  he  must  lose 
his  work  if  he  would  try  to  cultivate  it,  and  at  his 
death  it  will  again  be  subdivided,  until  at  last 
there  is  nothing  left  to  share.  Meanwhile,  the 
land,  which  is  not  enough  to  be  of  any  value  to 
anyone,  has  been  allowed  to  go  almost  out  of 


174  Spanish  Life 

cultivation;  or  if  it  bear  anything  at  all,  it  is 
weeds. 

Until  some  remedy  be  found  for  this  enervating 
system,  it  would  seem  as  if  Spanish  agriculture  is 
doomed  to  remain  in  its  present  unsatisfactory 
condition  over  a  great  part  of  the  kingdom.  The 
improvement  of  agriculture  is  practically  a  ques- 
tion of  private  enterprise,  and  under  the  existing 
law  of  inheritance  neither  enterprise  nor  interest 
can  be  expected  of  the  small  proprietor;  nor  in- 
deed of  the  large  landowner,  who  knows  that, 
whatever  he  may  do  to  improve  his  estate,  it  is 
doomed  to  be  cut  to  pieces  and  divided  amongst 
his  next  of  kin  until  it  is  eventually  extinguished. 
Whether,  in  some  future  time,  an  enlightened 
scheme  of  co-operation  could  work  the  arid  lands 
into  cultivation  again,  if  the  Government  would 
give  the  necessary  aid  in  the  form  of  irrigation, 
remains  among  the  unanswered  riddles  of  the 
future.  Prophecy  in  Spain  is  never  possible;  it 
is  always  the  unexpected  which  happens  in  that 
country  of  sharp  contradictions.  All  one  can  do 
is  to  note  past  progress  and  the  drift  of  the  present 
current,  which,  whatever  government  is  at  the 
nominal  head  of  affairs,  seems  to  be  towards  wide- 
spread— in  fact,  quite  general — advance  both  in 
knowledge  and  industrial  activity. 

The  greatest  hope  for  the  future  lies  in  the  fact 
that  it  is  no  longer  foreign  money  or  foreign 
labour  that  is  working  for  the  good  of  the  country  ; 
the  impulse  is  from  within,  and  every  penny  of 


Commerce  and  Agriculture    175 

capital  that  is  sunk  in  public  works,  manufac- 
tures, or  industrial  enterprise,  is  so  much  invested 
in  a  settled  state  of  affairs.  When  the  individual 
has  everything  to  lose  by  revolutionary  changes, 
when  the  commerce  of  the  country  is  becoming 
too  important  to  be  allowed  to  be  upset  easily,  and 
it  is  everybody's  interest  to  support  and  increase 
it,  the  main  body  of  the  people  are  ranged  on  the 
side  of  peace  and  progress.  They  have  had 
enough  of  civil  war,  enough  of  tyranny;  they 
have  achieved  freedom,  and  want  nothing  so 
much  as  to  taste  of  it  in  quietness. 

To  revert  for  a  moment  to  the  special  manufac- 
tures of  the  country,  it  appears  to  be  the  wise 
policy  of  the  powers  that  be  in  Spain  to-day  to 
encourage,  by  every  possible  means,  native  in- 
dustries and  the  development  of  the  rich  resources 
of  the  country.  If  it  be  only  in  the  superior 
education  required  of  the  workmen,  and  the 
drawing  out  of  their  natural  talents,  the  move- 
ment is  an  immense  gain  to  the  people,  so  long 
purposely  kept  in  a  condition  of  slothful  igno- 
rance. 

Besides  the  woollen  manufactures  of  Palencia, 
I<orca,  Jerez,  Barcelona,  Valencia,  and  other 
places,  are  many  cloth  factories  in  Cataluna,  as 
well  as  others  for  the  production  of  silk  fabrics, 
lace,  and  very  high -class  embroideries,  for  which 
last  Spain  has  long  been  famous,  but  which  have 
hitherto  been  little  known  beyond  her  own  fron- 
tiers. In  artistic  crafts  may  be  named  the  pottery 


i?6  Spanish  Life 

works  of  Pickman,  Mesaque,  Gomez,  and  others 
in  Seville,  where  magnificent  reproductions  of 
Moorish  and  Hespano-Moresque  tiles  and  pottery 
are  being  turned  out;  there  are  also  factories  for 
this  class  of  goods  in  Valencia,  Barcelona,  Segovia, 
Talevera,  and  many  other  places.  Ornamental 
iron  and  damascene  work  holds  the  high  reputa- 
tion which  Spain  has  never  lost,  but  the  output  is 
very  largely  increased.  Gold  and  silver  inlaid 
on  iron,  iron  inlaid  on  copper  and  silver,  are  some 
of  the  forms  of  this  beautiful  work.  That  exe- 
cuted in  Madrid  differs  from  that  of  Toledo,  Eibar, 
and  other  centres  of  the  craft.  The  iron  gate- 
work  executed  in  Madrid  and  Barcelona  is  very 
hard  to  beat,  and  the  casting  of  bronzes  is  carried 
out  with  every  modern  improvement.  The  wood- 
carvers  of  Spain  have  always  been  famous,  and 
the  craft  appears  to  be  in  no  danger  of  falling  be- 
hind its  old  reputation,  much  beautiful  decorative 
work  of  this  description  being  produced  for 
modern  needs.  The  Circulo  de  Artes  holds  an 
exhibition  in  Madrid  every  other  year,  and  in 
the  intervening  years  the  Government  has  one, 
in  the  large  permanent  buildings  erected  for  the 
purpose  at  the  end  of  the  Fuente  Castellana. 
The  manufacture  of  artistic  furniture  and  other 
connected  industries  are  encouraged  also  by  a  bi- 
yearly  exhibition  in  Madrid,  where  prizes  and 
commendations  are  given.  The  chief  centres  of 
artistic  furniture-making  are  Madrid,  Barcelona, 
Granada,  and  Zaragoza.  Exhibitions  of  arts  and 


Commerce  and  Agriculture    177 

crafts  and  of  all  kinds  of  industries  and  manufac- 
tures are  also  held,  at  intervals,  in  the  principal 
towns  all  over  the  country.  An  interesting  ex- 
hibition of  Spanish  and  South  American  produc- 
tions was  held  in  1901  in  Bilbao  with  great  success. 

Nor  ought  we  to  forget  the  industry  for  which 
Seville  is  famed.  The  manufacture  of  tobacco 
is  almost  wholly  in  the  hands  of  women,  and  is 
a  very  important  industry,  thousands  being  em- 
ployed in  the  large  factories  making  up  cigars, 
cigarettes,  and  preparing  and  packing  the  finer 
kinds  of  tobacco.  The  cigar-girl  of  Seville  is  a 
well-known  type,  almost  as  much  dreaded  by  the 
authorities  as  admired  by  her  own  class.  The 
women  are  mostly  young,  and  often  attractive, 
extremely  pronounced  both  in  dress  and  manners, 
and  are  quite  a  power  to  be  reckoned  with  when 
they  choose  to  assert  themselves.  On  more  than 
one  occasion  they  have  taken  up  some  cause  en 
masse,  and  have  gathered  in  thousands,  deter- 
mined to  have  their  way. 

When  this  happens,  the  powers  that  be  are 
reduced  to  great  straits.  Neither  the  Guardia 
Civile  nor  the  military  can  be  relied  on  to  use 
force,  and  unless  the  army  of  irate  women  can  be 
persuaded  to  retire  from  the  contest  it  is  probable 
that,  relying  with  perfect  confidence  on  the  privi- 
leges of  their  sex,  they  will  gain  what  they  con- 
sider their  rights — at  all  events  their  will. 

No  country  in  the  world  is  more  suited  for 
manufactures  and  exports  than  Spain.  She  has 


178  Spanish  Life 

an  unexampled  seaboard,  and  many  magnificent 
natural  harbours,  and  now  an  easy  approach 
through  Portugal  to  the  sea,  even  if  her  own 
ports  should  be  insufficient.  Common  commer- 
cial interests  are  likely  to  bring  that  Iberian 
kingdom  or  commonwealth  to  pass  which  has  been 
the  dream  of  some  of  her  politicians,  and  is  still 
cherished  in  parts  of  both  countries.  The  north- 
ern ports  in  the  Atlantic  are,  perhaps,  the  most 
important;  that  of  Bilbao,  a  most  unpromising 
one  by  nature,  has  grown  out  of  all  recognition 
since  the  close  of  the  Carlist  war.  The  railway 
to  the  iron  mines  was  already  in  course  of  con- 
struction when  the  war  broke  out;  everything  was 
stopped,  the  workmen  carried  off  willy-nilly  to 
join  the  marauding  bands  of  the  Pretender,  the 
town — which  boasts  that  it  has  never  been  taken, 
although  twice  almost  demolished  during  the  two 
insane  civil  wars — was  wrecked  and  well-nigh 
ruined,  its  industries  destroyed,  its  commerce  at 
an  end.  With  peace  and  quietness  came  one  of 
the  most  extraordinary  revivals  of  modern  times: 
the  population  increased  at  a  marvellous  rate,  the 
new  town  sprang  into  existence  on  the  left  bank 
of  the  Nerrion,  the  river  was  deepened,  the  bar, 
which  used  to  block  almost  all  entrance,  prac- 
tically removed,  extensive  dock-works  carried 
out;  so  that  in  ten  years  the  shipment  of  ore  from 
the  port  sprang  up  from  four  hundred  and  twenty- 
five  thousand  tons  to  3,737,176,  and  is  increasing 
daily.  Bilbao,  with  its  five  railway  stations,  its 


Commerce  and  Agriculture    179 

electric  tramways,  and  its  population  of  sixty-six 
thousand,  has  become  the  first  and  most  impor- 
tant shipping  outlet  of  Spain.  Nor  have  the 
southern  ports  of  Huelva  and  Seville  been  much 
behind  it  in  their  rapid  progress;  while  on  the 
Mediterranean  coast  are  Malaga,  Almeria,  Agui- 
las,  Cartagena,  Valencia,  and  Tarragona — all 
vying  with  the  older,  and  once  singular,  centre 
of  commercial  and  industrial  activity,  Barcelona. 
The  northwest  seaboard  has  been  hitherto  some- 
what behind  the  movement,  owing  to  a  less  com- 
plete railway  communication  with  the  rest  of  the 
country;  now  that  this  is  no  more  a  reproach, 
the  fine  natural  harbours  of  Rivadeo,  Vivero, 
Carril,  Pontevedra,  Vigo,  and  Coruna,  are  gradu- 
ally following  suit,  some  with  more  vigour  than 
others.  The  little  land-locked  harbour  of  Pa- 
sages  has  for  some  years  been  rapidly  rising  to 
the  rank  of  a  first-class  shipping  port. 

It  is  satisfactory  to  note,  from  the  latest  statis- 
tics, that  in  1899  Spain  possessed  a  total  of  one 
thousand  and  thirty-five  merchant  ships,  that  in 
the  same  year  she  bought  from  England  alone 
sixty-seven,  and  that  17,419  ships,  carrying  n,- 
857,674  tons  of  exports,  left  Spanish  ports  for 
foreign  markets.  Although  no  official  informa- 
tion has  been  published  since  that  year,  the  in- 
crease since  the  close  of  the  war  has  been  in  very 
much  greater  ratio.  From  the  same  records  we 
find  that  during  the  year  1899  no  fewer  than 
sixty-nine  large  companies  were  formed,  of  which 


i8o  Spanish  Life 

twenty-three  were  for  shipping,  eight  were  new 
sugar  factories,  seven  banks,  seven  mining,  six 
electric,  and  ten  others  related  either  to  manu- 
facture or  commerce,  the  total  capital  of  these 
new  enterprises  representing  one  hundred  and 
twenty-eight  millions  of  pesetas. 

In  contrast  to  Portugal,  the  caminos  reales,  or 
high-roads,  of  Spain  have  long  been  very  good. 
It  is  true  that  where  these  State  roads  do  not 
exist,  the  unadulterated  arroyo  serves  as  a  country 
road,  or  a  mere  track  across  the  fields  made  by 
carts  and  foot-passengers,  and  when  an  obstruc- 
tion occurs  in  the  form  of  too  deep  a  hole  to  be 
got  through,  the  track  takes  a  turn  outside  it,  and 
returns  to  the  direct  line  as  soon  as  circumstances 
permit.  An  arroyo  is  given  in  the  dictionary  as 
"a  rivulet";  it  is,  in  fact,  generally  a  rushing 
torrent  during  the  rains,  eating  its  way  through 
the  land,  and  laying  down  a  smooth,  deep  layer 
of  sand,  or  even  soil,  between  high  banks.  Im- 
mediately after  the  rainy  season  this  affords  a 
firm,  good  road  for  a  time,  but  eventually  it  be- 
comes ploughed  into  impassable  ruts  by  the 
wheels  of  the  carts,  unless  trampled  hard  by  the 
feet  of  passing  flocks. 

Government  undertakes  the  cost  and  the  super- 
intendence of  the  caminos  reales,  and  does  it  well. 
The  corps  of  engineers  is  modelled  on  French 
lines,  and  is  a  department  of  the  Ministry  of 
Public  Works.  The  course  of  study  is  extremely 
severe,  and  the  examinations  are  strict  and  search- 


Commerce  and  Agriculture    181 

ing.  When  a  candidate  passes,  he  is  appointed 
assistant-engineer  by  the  Ministry,  and  he  rises  in 
his  profession  solely  by  seniority.  Every  pro- 
vince has  its  engineer-in-chief,  with  his  staff  of 
assistants;  the  superintendents  of  harbours,  rail- 
ways, and  other  public  works  are  specially  ap- 
pointed from  qualified  engineers.  In  addition  to 
the  care  of  the  construction  and  repair  of  all  high- 
ways and  Government  works  in  his  district,  the 
engineer-in-chief  has  the  overlooking  of  all  works 
which,  although  they  may  be  the  result  of  private 
enterprise  and  private  capital,  are  authorised  or 
carried  out  under  Government  concession.  These 
concessions  are  only  granted  after  the  project  has 
been  submitted  to,  and  approved  by,  the  Ministry 
of  Public  Works,  and  it  passes  under  the  super- 
vision of  the  engineer  of  the  provinces.  In  old 
days,  if  not  now,  there  was  a  good  deal  of"  the 
itching  palm  "  about  the  officials,  not  excluding 
the  Minister  himself,  through  whose  hands  the 
granting  of  concessions  passed,  even  the  wives 
coming  in  for  handsome  presents  and  "  considera- 
tions," without  which  events  had  a  knack  of  not 
moving;  and  when  the  army  of  Empleados  be- 
came Cesantes,  this  work,  of  course,  began  all 
over  again.  The  railway  engineers  form  a  sepa- 
rate body,  the  country  being  mapped  out  into 
arbitrary  divisions,  each  under  the  charge  of  one 
engineer-in-chief,  with  a  large  body  of  assistants. 
The  telegraph  system  of  Spain  has  now  for 
many  years  been  in  a  good  condition.  The 


1 82  Spanish  Life 

construction  of  the  lines  dates  from  about  1862, 
when  only  five  miles  were  in  operation.  There  is 
now  probably  not  a  village  in  the  whole  country 
that  does  not  possess  its  telegraph  office,  and  in 
all  the  important  towns  this  is  kept  open  all 
night.  A  peseta  for  twenty  words,  including 
the  address,  is  the  uniform  charge,  every  addi- 
tional word  being  ten  centimos.  The  telegraphs 
were  established  by  the  Government,  and  are 
under  its  control.  All  railway  lines  of  public 
service,  and  those  which  receive  a  subvention, 
must  provide  two  wires  for  Government  use. 
Telephones  are  now  in  use  in  all  large  centres, 
and  electric  lighting  and  traction  are  far  more 
widely  used  than  in  England. 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE  ARMY  AND  NAVY 

IT  is  not  necessary  to  say  to  anyone  who  has 
the  smallest  acquaintance  with  history  that 
Spaniards  are  naturally  brave  and  patriotic.  The 
early  history  of  the  Peninsula  is  one  of  valour  in 
battle,  whether  by  land  or  sea.  The  standard  of 
Castile  has  been  borne  by  her  sons  triumphantly 
over  the  surface  of  the  globe.  Few  of  us  now  re- 
member that  Johnson  wrote  of  the  Spain  of  his 
day: 

Has  Heaven  reserved,  in  pity  to  the  poor, 
No  pathless  waste,  no  undiscovered  shore, 
No  secret  island  on  the  trackless  main, 
No  peaceful  desert,  yet  unclaimed  by  Spain  ? 

In  the  old  days  when  Drake  undertook  to 
"singe  the  King  of  Spain's  beard,"  and  carried 
out  his  threat,  our  sailors  and  those  of  Philip  II., 
some  time  "  King  of  England,"  as  the  Spaniards 
still  insist  on  calling  him,  met  often  in  mortal 
combat,  and  learned  to  recognise  and  honour  in 
each  other  the  same  dogged  fighting-power,  the 
same  discipline  and  quiet  courage.  The  picture 
183 


1 84  Spanish  Life 

of  the  Spaniards  standing  bareheaded  in  token  of 
reverence  and  admiration  of  a  worthy  foe,  as  some 
small  English  ships  went  down  with  all  their 
crew  rather  than  surrender,  in  those  old  days  of 
strife,  touches  a  chord  which  still  vibrates  in 
memory  of  battles  fought  and  won  together  by 
Englishmen  and  Spaniards  under  the  Iron  Duke. 
True,  some  battered  and  torn  English  flags  hang 
as  trophies  in  the  armoury  of  Madrid,  but  one 
likes  to  remember  that  in  the  only  battle  where 
our  colours  were  lost,  the  Spanish  troops  were 
commanded  by  an  Englishman,  James  Stuart, 
Duke  of  Berwick,  the  direct  ancestor  of  the  pre- 
sent Duque  de  Berwick  y  Alva,  and  the  English 
by  one  of  French  birth.  In  every  case  where 
foreign  foes  have  invaded  Spain,  sooner  or  later 
they  have  been  driven  out.  Santiago  !  y  Cierra 
Espana!  was  the  war-cry  which  roused  every 
child  of  Spain  to  close  his  beloved  country  to 
alien  domination. 

Unfortunately,  the  yoke  of  the  foreigner  came 
in  more  invidious  guise.  From  the  death  of 
Ferdinand  and  Isabella  to  the  year  1 800,  the  sons 
of  Spain  were  immolated  to  serve  causes  which 
were  of  no  account  to  her,  to  protect  the  interests 
of  sovereigns  who  had  nothing  in  common  with 
her  provinces,  to  add  to  the  power  of  the  Austrian 
Hapsburgs  and  the  French  Bourbons.  We  have 
seen  how  the  people  whom  Napoleon  had  believed 
to  be  sunk  in  fanaticism,  dead  to  all  national 
aspiration,  the  mere  slaves  of  a  despicable  King, 


The  Army  and  Navy         185 

and  the  sport  of  his  debauched  Queen  and  her 
lover,  sprang  to  arms  and  drove  the  invader  from 
their  land.  So  would  it  be  to-day  if  the  country 
were  even  threatened  by  foreign  invasion.  "  The 
dogs  of  Spain,"  as  Granville  called  them,  know 
well  how  to  protect  their  soil. 

Within  comparatively  recent  years  the  cam- 
paign in  Morocco,  and  the  expeditionary  force 
sent  to  Cochin-China,  showed  that  the  Spanish 
army  was  not  to  be  despised.  It  has  been  the 
misfortune  of  Spain  that  her  soldiers  have  too 
often  had  the  melancholy  task  of  fighting  against 
their  own  people,  or  those  of  their  colonies,  both 
of  whom  have  been  excited  and  aided  in  in- 
surrection for  years  by  foreign  contributions  of 
arms  and  money.  In  these  unhappy  fratricidal 
struggles  the  fighting  has  never  been  more  than 
half-hearted,  and  during  the  numerous  military 
pronundamientos  it  has  often  been  necessary  to 
keep  the  troops  from  meeting,  as  they  could  never 
be  trusted  not  to  fraternise;  and  after  the  first 
abortive  attempt  by  Prim  to  effect  the  revolution 
which  later  freed  the  country,  the  curious  spec- 
tacle was  afforded  of  Prim  and  his  soldiers  march- 
ing quietly  out  of  one  end  of  a  village,  while  the 
troops  of  the  Queen,  sent  in  pursuit,  were  being 
purposely  kept  back  from  marching  too  quickly 
in  at  the  other. 

The  army  of  Spain  would  seem  to  suffer  from  a 
plethora  of  officers,  especially  those  of  the  highest 
rank.  In  the  time  of  Alfonso  XII.,  there  were 


1 86  Spanish  Life 

ten  marshals,  fifty-five  generals,  sixty-six  man's- 
cales  de  campo,  and  one  hundred  and  ninety-seven 
brigadiers;  adding  those  on  the  retired  list  liable 
for  service,  there  were  in  all  five  hundred  and 
twenty  generals,  four  hundred  and  seventy-two 
colonels,  eight  hundred  and  ninety-four  lieuten- 
ant-colonels, 2113  commandants,  5041  captains, 
5880  lieutenants,  and  4833  sous-lieutenants.  With 
such  an  array  of  officers,  it  is  scarcely  to  be  won- 
dered at  that  promotion  in  the  ordinary  way  was 
looked  on  as  impossible,  and  the  juggle  of  military 
pronunciamientos  was  regarded  as  almost  the  only 
means  of  rising  in  the  army.  It  was  no  uncom- 
mon thing  to  promise  a  rise  of  one  grade  through- 
out a  whole  corps  to  compass  one  of  these  miniature 
revolutions.  However,  all  that  is  happily  past. 
General  Weyler, —  whose  name  indicates  alien 
blood  at  some  period  of  his  family  history, — the 
present  Minister  of  War,  has  taken  the  thorough 
reform  of  the  army  in  hand,  though  it  is  too  soon 
to  say  if  he  will  be  as  successful  as  is  generally 
expected  from  his  known  energy  and  common 
sense,  since  the  work  is  only  now  in  progress. 

One  of  the  most  fertile  sources  of  disturbance  in 
the  old  days  of  Isabel  II.  was  the  presence  of 
the  primo  sargentos.  These  petty  officers,  having 
risen  from  the  ranks,  and  in  vested  with  an  authority 
for  which  they  were  often  quite  unsuited,  were  al- 
ways ready,  for  a  consideration,  to  aid  the  cause  of 
some  aspiring  politician,  now  on  one  side,  now  on 
another.  They  are  now,  fortunately,  abolished. 


The  Army  and  Navy         187 

The  Spanish  artillery  is  a  splendid  body,  and  is 
officered  from  the  best  families  in  the  country.  In 
the  only  military  insurrection  in  which  the  com- 
mon soldiers  shot  some  of  the  officers  obnoxious  to 
them — that  of  the  Montano  Barracks,  in  1866 — 
the  leader  of  the  mutinists  was  a  certain  hidalgo. 
It  was  the  promotion  of  this  man  that  led  in- 
directly to  the  abdication  of  Don  Amadeo,  who 
opposed  the  action.  Indignant  at  the  disgrace 
to  the  service,  all  of  the  artillery  officers  in  Spain 
sent  in  their  resignations.  They  were  accepted, 
and  the  primo  sargentos  raised  to  the  rank  of 
officers  to  fill  their  places.  The  result  was  un- 
limited mutiny  among  the  rank  and  file  and 
danger  to  the  State.  Some  of  the  young  officers 
who  had  retained  their  uniforms,  though  no  longer 
attached  to  the  corps,  finding  the  troops  in  utter 
disorder  and  revolt,  quietly  donned  their  uni- 
forms, went  down  to  the  barracks,  and  gave  their 
orders.  The  men  instantly  fell  into  the  ranks, 
and  the  situation  was  saved.  The  primo  sargen- 
tos were  abolished,  the  officers  reinstated.  But 
Amadeo  had  had  enough;  he  ceased  to  attempt 
to  reign  constitutionally  in  a  country  where  the 
constitution  meant  only  one  more  form  of  per- 
sonal greed  and  excess.  He  was  demasiado  hon- 
esto  for  the  crew  he  had  been  called  to  command, 
and  he  left  the  country  to  tumble  about  in  its 
so-called  "  republican  "  anarchy  until  another 
military  prommdamiento  set  Alfonso  XII.  on 
the  throne.  And  that  has  been,  fortunately,  the 


1 88  Spanish  Life 

last  performance  of  a  kind  once  so  common  in 
Spain. 

All  military  men  admire  the  effective  corps  of 
light  mountain  artillery.  The  small  guns  are 
carried  on  the  backs  of  the  splendid  mules  for 
which  the  Spanish  army  is  famous,  and  can  be 
taken  up  any  mountain  path  which  these  singular 
animals  can  climb.  Mules  are  also  used  to  drag 
the  heavier  guns,  and  must  be  invaluable  in  a 
mountainous  country.  The  animals  are  quite  as 
large  as  ordinary  horses,  are  lithe,  active,  and 
literally  unhurtable.  I  have  myself  seen  a  mule, 
harnessed  to  a  cart  which  was  discharging  stones 
over  the  edge  of  a  deep  pit,  when  levelling  the 
ground  at  the  end  of  the  Fuente  Castellana  in 
Madrid,  over-balanced  by  the  weight  behind  him, 
fall  over,  turn  a  somersault  in  mid-air,  cart  and 
all,  and,  alighting  thirty  feet  below,  shake  him- 
self, ponder  for  a  few  seconds  on  the  unexpected 
event  in  his  day's  labour,  and  then  proceed  to  draw 
the  cart,  by  this  time  satisfactorily  emptied,  out 
of  the  pit  by  the  sloping  track  at  the  farther  side, 
and  continue  his  task  absolutely  unhurt  and  un- 
disturbed. 

Until  the  final  overthrow  of  the  Carlists  by  Al- 
fonso XII.,  the  Basque  Provinces,  amongst  their 
most  cherished  fueros,  were  exempted  from  the 
hated  conscription;  but  the  victorious  King  made 
short  work  of  that  and  of  all  other  special  rights 
and  privileges — which,  in  truth,  had  been  abused 
— and  now  all  the  country  is  subject  to  conscrip- 


The  Army  and  Navy         189 

tion.  Every  man  from  nineteen  to  twenty  years 
of  age  is  liable  to  serve  in  the  ranks,  except  those 
who  are  studying  as  officers.  A  payment  of  ^60 
frees  them  from  service  during  peace;  but  if  the 
country  is  at  war  there  is  no  exemption.  The 
conscripts  are  bound  for  twelve  years — three  with' 
the  colours,  three  in  the  first  reserve,  three  in 
the  second,  and  three  in  the  third. 

Navy?  Alas!  Spain  has  none.  Two  battle- 
ships alone  remain — El  Pelayo  and  Carlos  V.  (the 
former  about  nine  thousand  five  hundred  tons, 
the  latter  not  more  than  seven  thousand) — and 
some  destroyers  and  torpedoes.  How  a  nation 
that  once  ruled  the  sea,  and  whose  sailors  trav- 
ersed and  conquered  the  New  World,  has  allowed 
her  navy  to  become  practically  extinct  at  the  mo- 
ment when  nations  which  have  almost  no  seaboard 
are  trying  to  bring  theirs  up  within  measurable 
distance  of  England's,  it  is  impossible  to  say. 
Even  before  the  outbreak  of  the  war  with  Amer- 
ica there  were  but  a  few  battle-ships,  and  these 
were  wanting  in  guns  and  in  almost  all  that  could 
make  them  effective — save  and  except  the  men, 
who  behaved  like  heroes.  It  seems  to  be  a  con- 
solation to  Spaniards  to  remember  that  it  was  in 
the  pages  of  an  English  journal  that  an  English- 
man, who  had  seen  the  whole  of  the  disastrous 
war,  wrote:  "  If  Spain  were  served  by  her  states- 
men as  she  has  been  served  by  her  navy,  she 
would  be  one  of  the  greatest  nations  of  the  world 
to-day." 


190  Spanish  Life 

The  history  of  the  part  borne  by  the  Spanish 
navy  in  the  late  war  with  America,  as  written  by 
one  of  Admiral  Cervera's  captains,1  with  the 
publication  of  the  actual  telegrams  which  passed 
between  the  Government  and  the  fleet,  and  the 
military  commanders  in  the  colonies,  is  one  of 
the  most  heartrending  examples  of  the  sacri- 
fice, not  only  of  brave  men,  but  of  a  country's 
honour  to  political  intrigue  or  the  desire  to  retain 
office.  This,  at  least,  is  the  opinion  of  the  writer 
of  this  painful  history,  and  his  statements  are 
fully  borne  out  by  the  original  telegrams,  since 
published.  It  is  impossible  to  imagine  that  any 
definite  policy  at  all  was  followed  by  the  advisers 
of  the  Queen  Regent  in  this  matter,  unless  it 
were  the  incredible  one  ascribed  to  it  by  Captain 
Concas  Palan  of  deliberately  allowing  the  fleet, 
such  as  it  was,  to  be  destroyed — in  fact,  in  the 
case  of  Admiral  Cervera's  squadron,  sending  it 
out  to  certain  and  foreseen  annihilation — so  as  to 
make  the  disaster  an  excuse  for  suing  for  peace, 
without  raising  such  a  storm  at  home  as  might 
have  upset  the  Ministry.  With  both  fleets  sunk, 
and  those  of  their  men  not  slain,  prisoners  of  war, 
there  was  no  alternative  policy  but  peace.  Cap- 
tain Concas  Palan  claims  for  his  chief  and  the 
comrades  who  fell  in  this  futile  and  disastrous 
affair  "  a  right  to  the  legitimate  defence  which 
our  country  expects  from  us,  though  it  is  against 

1  La  Escuadra  del  Almirante  Cervera,  por  Victor  M. 
Concas  Palan. 


The  Army  and  Navy         191 

the  interested  silence  which  those  who  were  the 
cause  of  our  misfortunes  would  fain  impose  on 
us,"  and  says  that  "some  day,  and  that  probably 
much  sooner  than  seems  probable  at  present,"  the 
judgment  of  Spain  on  this  episode  will  be  that  of 
the  English  Review,  which  he  quotes  as  the 
heading  of  his  chapter.  He  goes  on :  "  War  was 
accepted  by  Spain  when  the  island  of  Cuba  was 
already  lost  to  her,  and  when  the  dispatch  of  a 
single  soldier  more  from  the  Peninsula  was  in- 
finitely more  likely  to  have  caused  an  insurrection 
than  that  of  which  our  Ministers  were  afraid — at 
the  moment,  also,  when  our  troops  were  in  want 
of  the  merest  necessaries,  the  arrears  of  pay  being 
the  chief  cause  of  their  debilitated  condition,  and 
when  a  great  part  of  the  Spanish  residents  in 
Cuba,  under  the  name  of  '  Reformers,'  'Auto- 
nomists,' etc.,  had  made  common  cause  with  the 
insurgents,  while  they  were  enriching  themselves 
to  a  fabulous  extent  by  contracts  for  supplies  and 
transports.  In  these  circumstances  it  was  folly 
to  accept  a  struggle  with  an  immensely  rich 
country,  possessing  a  population  four  times  that 
of  ours,  and  but  a  pistol  shot  from  the  seat  of 
action."  The  Government  of  Spain  was  per- 
fectly  aware  that  the  troops  in  Cuba  were  already 
quite  insufficient  even  to  cope  with  the  insurgents, 
that  the  people  at  home  were  already  murmuring 
bitterly  at  the  cost  of  the  war,  and  that  it  was  im- 
possible to  send  out  a  contingent  of  any  practical 
value.  Sickness  of  all  kinds,  enteric,  anaemia, 


i92  Spanish  Life 

and  all  the  evils  of  under-fed  and  badly  found 
troops,  were  rapidly  consuming  the  forces  in 
Cuba,  "  and  yet  the  Government  took  no  thought 
of  who  was  to  man  the  guns  whose  gunners  were 
drifting  daily  into  the  hospital  and  the  cemetery. 
.  .  .  The  national  debt  was  increasing  in  a 
fabulous  manner,  and  recourse  was  had  to  the 
mediaeval  remedy  of  debasing  the  currency,  while 
even  at  that  moment  the  troops  had  more  than  a 
year's  pay  in  arrear,  and  absolute  penury  was 
augmenting  their  other  sufferings." 

This  was  the  moment  which  the  responsible  Min- 
isters of  the  Crown  thought  propitious  to  throw 
down  the  gauntlet  to  the  overwhelming  power 
of  America  rather  than  to  face  what  the  writer 
terms  the  ' '  cabbage-headed  riff-raff  of  the  Plaza 
de  la  Cevada  "  of  Madrid.  Again  and  again  was 
the  absolute  inefficiency  of  the  fleet  pointed  out 
to  them.  Even  the  few  ships  there  were,  all  of 
them  vastly  inferior  to  those  of  the  United  States' 
navy,  were  without  their  proper  armament;  they 
might  have  been  of  some  service  in  defence  of  the 
coast  of  Spain,  but  in  aggressive  warfare  they 
were  useless.  Allowing  somewhat  for  the  natural 
indignation  of  one  of  those  who  was  sacrificed, 
who  saw  his  beloved  commander  and  his  comrades- 
in-arms  sent  like  sheep  to  the  slaughter,  and  all 
for  an  idea, — and  that  a  perfectly  stupid  and 
useless  one, — there  is  no  gainsaying  the  facts 
which  Captain  Concas  Palan  relates,  and  the 
original  telegrams  verify  every  word  of  his  story. 


The  Army  and  Navy         193 

Admiral  Cervera  was  sent  out  with  sealed  orders ; 
but  he  had  done  all  that  was  in  his  power — even 
asking  to  be  relieved  of  his  command — to  prevent 
the  folly  of  sending  away  from  the  coasts  of  the 
mother  country  the  only  ships  which  could  have 
protected  her,  while  they  were  absolutely  useless 
against  the  American  navy  in  the  Antilles.  Left 
with  no  alternative  but  obedience,  he  managed 
to  gain  the  safe  harbour  of  Santiago  de  Cuba  with 
his  squadron  intact.  Secure  from  attack,  he 
landed  his  men  to  assist  in  the  defence  of  the  town 
from  the  land  side.  And  then  came  the  incredible 
orders  that  he  was  to  take  out  his  four  ships  to  be 
destroyed  by  the  American  navy  waiting  outside! 
Never  in  the  world's  history  was  a  more  magnifi- 
cent piece  of  heroism  displayed  than  in  the  obedi- 
ence to  discipline  which  caused  Admiral  Cervera 
to  re-embark  his  marines  and  lead  them  forth  to 
certain  death,  well  knowing  what  they  were  to 
face,  for  he  hid  nothing  from  them.  He  called 
on  them  as  sons  of  Spain,  and  they  answered 
heroically,  as  Spaniards  have  ever  done  in  his- 
tory: "  For  honour! " 

Spain  has  suffered  deeply  and  sorely  in  her 
pride ;  but  she  has  never  worn  her  heart  on  her 
sleeve — she  suffers  in  silence.  A  quotation  from 
the  £poca  of  July  5th,  two  days  after  the  de- 
struction of  Cervera' s  fleet,  shows  the  spirit  in 
which  the  country  bore  that  terrible  blow.  It  is 
headed  "  Hours  of  Agony."  "  Our  grief  to-day 
has  nothing  in  it  which  was  unexpected.  The 

'3 


194  Spanish  Life 

laws  of  logic  are  invincible;  our  four  ships  could 
not  by  any  possibility  have  escaped  the  formidable 
American  squadron.  The  one  thing  that  Spain 
expected  of  her  sons  was  that  they  should  perish 
heroically.  They  have  perished!  They  have 
faced  their  destiny;  they  have  realised  the  sole 
end  which  Spain  looked  for,  in  this  desperate 
conflict  into  which  she  has  been  drawn  by  God 
knows  what  blind  fatality;  they  have  fallen  with 
honour." 

That  is  true;  but  how  about  the  leaders  whose 
long  misrule  of  the  colonies  had  helped  to  bring 
on  the  disaster  which  their  predecessors  for 
many  years  had  courted  ?  How  about  the  polit- 
ical corruption  which,  when  large  sums  were 
being  spent  on  the  colonies,  had  allowed  immense 
private  fortunes  to  be  made  while  Manila  was  left 
without  defences,  and  the  absolutely  unassailable 
bay  of  Santiago  de  Cuba  had  on  the  fort  which 
commanded  its  entrance  only  useless  old  guns 
of  a  past  century,  more  likely  to  cause  the  death 
of  those  who  attempted  to  serve  them  than  to  in- 
jure an  enemy?  How  about  the  Government 
that  deliberately  entered  on  a  war  of  which  the 
end  was  perfectly  foreseen,  and,  while  seated 
safely  in  office  at  home,  thought  the  ' '  honour  of 
Spain"  sufficiently  vindicated  by  offering  up  its 
navy,  already  made  useless  by  neglect  and  nig- 
gardliness, as  a  sacrifice  ?  Captain  Concas  Palan 
points  out  that  even  after  it  was  fully  recognised 
that  the  retention  of  Cuba  was  impossible,  the 


worst  catastrophes  might  have  been  avoided. 
' '  In  place  of  treating  for  peace  while  the  squadron 
was  intact  at  Santiago,  which,  as  well  as  Manila, 
could  have  been  defended  for  some  time,  the  Min- 
isters waited  to  sue  for  peace  until  everything  was 
lost,  while  it  was  perfectly  well  known  beforehand 
that  that  result  was  inevitable."  During  the 
whole  time,  manana  veremos  was  the  rule  of  action 
— a  to-morrow  that  never  was  to  dawn  for  those 
whose  lives  it  was  intended  to  sacrifice.  Heaven 
works  no  miracles  for  those  who  fling  themselves 
against  the  impossible ! 

So  long  ago  as  1823,  Thomas  Jefferson  wrote 
to  President  Monroe :  ' '  The  addition  of  the  island 
of  Cuba  to  our  Confederacy  is  exactly  what  is 
wanted  to  round  our  power  as  a  nation  to  the 
point  of  its  utmost  interest."  John  Quincy 
Adams  went  so  far  as  to  state  that  ' '  Cuba  gravi- 
tates to  the  United  States  as  the  apple  yet  hang- 
ing on  its  native  trunk  gravitates  to  the  earth 
which  sustains  it" — a  statement  which  has  the 
more  force  when  it  is  remembered  that  for  over 
fifty  years  the  Cuban  insurgents  had  been  liber- 
ally supplied  with  arms,  ammunition,  stores,  and 
troops  from  the  United  States  whenever  they  re- 
quired them!  And  this,  not  because  Cuba  was 
mismanaged  by  Spain,  but  because  America 
coveted  her  as  "the  most  interesting  addition 
that  could  be  made  to  our  system  of  States, ' '  to 
quote  Jefferson  once  more. 

Nevertheless,   the  heroic  sons  of  Spain  were 


196  Spanish  Life 

offered  up  as  an  expiation  for  the  sins  of  her 
political  jugglers  for  generations  past.  With  the 
knowledge  that  America  had  at  least  for  seventy 
years  been  seeking  an  excuse  for  "  rounding  her 
power  as  a  nation"  by  the  seizure  of  Cuba,  no 
real  effort  was  made  to  redress  the  grievances  of 
her  native  population,  nor  to  efficiently  defend 
her  coasts. 

The  state  of  affairs  in  Manila  was  still  worse. 
The  culpable  neglect  of  the  Government  had  re- 
sulted in  the  so-called  squadron  not  being  pos- 
sessed of  one  single  ship  of  modern  construction 
or  armament;  and  when  the  unfortunate  marines 
and  their  heroic  commanders  had  been  immolated 
by  the  overwhelming  superiority  in  numbers  and 
efficiency  of  the  Americans,  the  noisy  injustice 
and  anger  of  a  senseless  crowd  at  home  were 
allowed  to  compass  the  lasting  disgrace  of  casting 
the  blame  for  the  foreseen  disasters  on  Admiral 
Montojo,  who  was  thrown  as  a  victim  to  the 
jackals. 

To-day,  we  find  Spain  absolutely  without  a 
navy.  Two  second-  or  third-class  ships — and  they 
not  even  properly  found  or  armed — are  all  she 
possesses.  Men  she  has,  however,  with  the  tradi- 
tions of  a  great  past,  while  the  officers  of  her  navy 
are  thoroughly  alive  to  the  class  of  ships  and  the 
armament  which  are  needed  to  give  their  country 
the  protection,  and  their  foreign  policy  the  dig- 
nity, which  other  countries  of  far  less  importance 
are  able  to  sustain.  No  wonder  that  her  writers 


The  Army  and  Navy         197 

are  pointing  out  that  instead  of  being  satisfied 
with  immense  long-winded  despatches  and  notes, 
couched  in  grandiloquent  language,  which  Span- 
ish Foreign  Ministers  seem  to  think  amply  suffi- 
cient, strong  nations  have  a  habit  of  sending  an 
iron-clad,  or  two  or  three  cruisers  to  back  up  their 
demands,  and  that  no  other  European  country 
but  Spain  thinks  it  safe  or  wise  to  leave  her  coasts 
and  her  commerce  entirely  without  protection  in 
case  of  a  European  war  breaking  out.  Will  the 
nation  itself  take  the  matter  in  hand,  and  in  this, 
as  in  so  many  other  matters,  advance  in  spite  of 
its  Government  ?  If  it  waits  for  the  political  see- 
saw by  which  both  parties  avoid  responsibility, 
there  will  be  small  chance  of  a  navy.  The  same 
ministry  is  in  power  to-day  which  landed  the 
country  in  the  Spanish-American  War,  and  it 
would  seem  as  if  the  nation  considers  it  the  best 
it  can  produce.  Manana  veremos  f 


CHAPTER  XII 

REUGIOUS 


rTTHE  natural  bent  of  the  Spanish  mind  is  re- 
1  ligious.  Taking  the  nation  as  a  whole, 
with  all  its  marvellous  variations  in  race  and 
character,  no  portion  of  it  has  ever  been  re- 
proached for  insincerity  in  its  religious  beliefs.  It 
has  been  often  held  up  to  reproach  for  bigotry 
and  superstition;  but  the  people  have  in  past 
ages  been  penetrated  by  a  sincere  reverence  for 
what  they  have  believed  to  be  religion,  and  per- 
haps no  other  nation  has  been  more  thoroughly 
imbued  with  an  unwavering  faith  in  the  dogmas 
taught  by  its  religious  instructors.  English  Ro- 
man Catholics  —  especially  those  who  have  seceded 
from  the  Anglican  Church  —  are  fond  of  declaring 
that  Spain  is  "a  splendid  Catholic  country,"  "  the 
home  of  true  Catholicism,"  and  so  forth.  To  a 
certain  extent  this  has  been  true  of  it  in  the  past, 
and  "  dignity,  loyalty,  and  the  love  of  God  "  are 
still  the  ideals  of  the  people  at  large,  although  in 
Spain,  as  in  some  other  Continental  nations,  the 
practice  of  religious  duties  is  now,  to  a  great  ex- 
tent, left  to  the  women  of  the  family  and  to  the 
198 


Religious  Life  199 

peasantry.  Young  Spain,  and  the  progressive 
party  in  it,  can  no  longer  be  said  to  be  under  the 
domination  of  the  Church,  even  in  outward  ap- 
pearance. It  will  be  well  if  the  swing  of  the 
pendulum  does  not  carry  them  very  far  from  it, 
and  into  open  revolt. 

The  history  of  the  Church  in  Spain  and  of  its 
relations  with  Rome  is  a  curious  one.  It  can 
scarcely  be  said  to  have  been  much  more  amenable 
to  the  Papacy  than  that  of  the  Church  of  England, 
though  it  has  remained  always  within  the  pale  of 
the  Roman  Catholic  persuasion.  In  the  old  time 
the  kings  aspired  to  be  the  head  of  the  Spanish 
Church,  and  were  none  too  subservient  to  the 
Pope.  The  Inquisition  and  the  Society  of  Jesus 
were  distinctly  Spanish,  and  not  Roman,  and 
were  at  times  actually  at  variance  with  the  Vati- 
can. Probably  from  their  long  struggles  with 
the  barbarians,  and  later  with  the  Moors,  Span- 
iards have  a  habit  of  always  speaking  of  them- 
selves as  Christians  rather  than  Catholics,  which 
strikes  strangely  on  one's  ears. 

The  evils  which  have  been  wrought  in  Spain 
by  the  terrible  incubus  of  the  Inquisition,  and  by 
the  domination  of  the  Jesuits  and  other  orders, 
who  obtained  possession  of  the  teaching  of  youth, 
have  been  little  less  than  disastrous,  because  their 
power  has  been  deliberately  used  for  ages  past  to 
keep  the  lower  classes  in  a  state  of  absolute  ignor- 
ance, slaves  of  the  grossest  superstition,  and  mere 
puppets  in  the  hands  of  the  priesthood.  Even 


200  Spanish  Life 

well  within  the  memory  of  living  people  it  was 
thought  a  pity  that  women  should  be  allowed  to 
learn  even  to  read  and  write, — safer  to  have  them 
quite  ignorant, — while  the  peasantry  and  the  in- 
ferior classes  believed  anything  they  were  told, 
and  could  be  excited  to  any  pitch  of  fanaticism 
by  the  preaching  of  their  religious  teachers.  The 
Inquisition  was  often  used  as  a  political  machine, 
and  was  sometimes  only  clothed  with  the  sem- 
blance of  religion;  but  by  whomsoever  it  was 
directed,  and  for  whatsoever  purpose,  it  was  a 
vile  and  soul-destroying  institution.  It  deliber- 
ately ground  down  and  destroyed  every  spark  of 
intelligence,  of  liberty,  of  attempt  at  progress;  it 
dominated  the  whole  nation  like  the  shadow  of 
the  upas  tree,  manufactured  hypocrites,  and  led 
to  the  debasing  of  a  naturally  fine  people  of  good 
instincts  to  an  ignorant  and  fanatical  mob,  who, 
in  the  name  of  religion,  were  entertained  with 
gigantic  autos~da-f£,  as  the  Roman  populace  were 
with  the  terrible  spectacles  of  their  gladiatorial 
shows  and  the  immolation  of  Christian  victims  in 
the  arena. 

It  was  the  people  themselves  who  rose  against 
this  hateful  tyranny;  it  was  their  better  instincts 
that  put  an  end  to  the  "  Holy  Office  "  and  its 
enormous  crimes.  Shortly  after  the  Revolution 
of  1868,  when  religious  liberty  had  been  estab- 
lished, and  the  people,  for  the  first  time  in  their 
long  history  of  disaster,  were  breathing  the  air  of 
freedom,  certain  improvements  which  were  being 


Religious  Life  201 

made,  in  the  shape  of  laying  out  new  streets, 
pulling  down  old  rookeries,  and  building  better 
houses,  led  to  a  new  road  being  cut  through  the 
raised  ground  outside  the  Santa  Barbara  Gate. 
The  exact  spot  of  the  great  Quemadero — the  oven 
of  the  Inquisition — was  not  known,  but  it  chanced 
that  the  workmen  cut  right  through  the  very 
centre  of  it.  A  more  ghastly  sight,  or  an  object- 
lesson  of  more  potency,  could  scarcely  be  im- 
agined. The  Government  of  the  day  found  it 
advisable  to  cover  it  up  as  quickly  as  possible; 
the  excitement  of  the  people  was  thought  to  be 
dangerous;  and  though  those  at  the  head  of 
affairs  were  no  friends  to  the  priests  or  the 
Jesuits,  there  was  no  desire  to  reawaken  the 
passions  and  let  loose  the  vengeance  which 
led  the  populace  in  1834  to  murder  them  whole- 
sale. 

I  happened  to  be  returning  from  a  ride  with  a 
companion  when,  quite  accidentally,  we  came 
upon  this  excavation,  and  even  passed  down  the 
new  road  before  we  realised  where  we  were. 
The  Quemadero  had  evidently  been  in  the  shape 
of  an  immense  basin.  There  in  the  banks  at 
each  side  were  the  stratified  layers  of  human 
ashes;  between  each  auto-da-fe'  it  was  evident 
that  the  remains  had  been  covered  with  a  thick 
layer  of  earth;  finally,  at  the  top  of  all  these 
smaller  bands  of  black,  horrible  ashes,  came  one 
huge  deposit,  which  marked  the  awful  scene 
of  the  last  gigantic  auto.  This  ghastly  bonfire 


202  Spanish  Life 

was  sixty  feet  square,  and  seven  feet  high,  as 
history  records,  when  one  hundred  and  five  vic- 
tims were  slowly  tortured  to  a  frightful  death  in 
the  name  of  Christ,  while  the  King,  Charles  II., 
and  his  Court  and  the  howling  rabble  of  Madrid 
looked  on  with  savage  enjoyment.  Nothing  can 
ever  obliterate  the  impression  of  that  scene,  nor 
make  one  forget  the  deadly  clinging  of  those 
ghastly  black  ashes,  which  the  wind  scattered 
about,  and  which  it  was  impossible  to  escape  or 
to  get  rid  of.  The  fell  work  of  the  "  religious  " 
authors  of  the  holocaust  had  been  well  done- — 
nothing  was  left  but  ashes;  and  the  next  day,  by 
order  of  the  Government,  sand  or  soil  had  been 
thrown  over  all  that  could  bear  witness  to  this 
horrible  episode  in  the  history  of  the  Church  in 
Spain,  while  the  people  who  inhabit  the  houses 
built  over  the  spot  probably  know  nothing  of  the 
records  of  human  agony  and  brutal  bigotry  that 
still  lie  beneath  their  homes. 

We  hear  of  these  things  and  read  of  them  in 
history,  but  one  needs  to  have  seen  that  awful 
memorial  to  realise  what  share  the  Inquisition  has 
had  in  transforming  a  naturally  heroic  and  kindly 
people  into  the  inert  masses  which  nothing,  or 
almost  nothing,  would  move  so  long  as  they  had 
pan  y  toros  (bread  and  bulls).  Thanks  to  the 
horrors  of  the  Inquisition  and  the  Autos-da-fS,  the 
whole  people  have  acquired  a  character  which  as- 
suredly they  do  not  deserve.  The  blind  bigotry 
and  cynical  cruelty  of  Philip  II.  and  his  lunatic 


Religious  Life  203 

successors  have  been  identified  with  the  races  over 
which,  unfortunately  for  Spain,  they  ruled  for  so 
many  years.  When  one  remembers  that  this  is 
the  view  taken  of  the  Inquisition,  and  of  the 
domination  of  the  Church  in  effacing  all  kinds  of 
culture,  by  the  liberal  and  educated  Spaniard  of 
to-day,  and  that  there  is,  even  now,  an  extreme 
party  which  would  fain  see  the  "  Holy  Office  "  re- 
established, with  all  its  old  powers,  it  is  easy  to 
understand  at  what  a  critical  point  the  clerical 
question  has  arrived  in  Spain;  nor  need  one 
wonder  at  the  feeling  which  in  all  parts  of  the 
kingdom  has  been  aroused  by  the  recrudescence 
of  the  religious  orders,  more  especially  of  the  de- 
termined struggle  of  the  Jesuits  to  retain  and  even 
to  reassert  their  power. 

The  Madonna,  who  is  always  spoken  of  as  "  L,a 
Virgen,"  never  as  "Santa  Maria,"  is  the  great 
object  of  love  and  of  reverence  in  Spain,  while 
the  words  Dios  and  Jesus  are  used  as  common  ex- 
clamations in  a  way  that  impresses  English  people 
rather  unfavourably.  It  is  a  shock  to  hear  all 
classes  using  the  For  Dios  !  which  with  us  is  a 
mark  of  the  purest  blackguardism,  and  the  use  as 
common  names  of  that  of  Our  Lord  and  of  Salito- 
dor,  or  Saviour,  always  strikes  a  disagreeable  note. 
There  is  in  Madrid  a  "  Calle  Jesus,"  and  the 
sacred  name,  used  as  a  common  expletive,  is 
heard  on  all  sides.  One  of  the  most  charming  of 
Yradier's  Andalusian  songs,  addressed  by  a  con- 
trabandista  to  his  novia,  runs  thus: 


204  Spanish  Life 

Pero  tengo  unas  patillas. 
Que  patillas  pundla ! 
Es  lo  mejor  que  se  ha  jecho 
En  de  Jesu  Cristo  aca ! ' 

And  no  one  is  offended;  in  fact,  no  irreverence  is 
probably  meant. 

But  the  innumerable  "  Virgenes"  which  abound 
throughout  the  country,  and  all  seem  different, 
have  the  heartfelt  devotion  of  all  classes.  To  one 
or  other  of  them  the  bull-fighter  goes  for  protec- 
tion and  aid  before  he  enters  the  arena;  the 
mother  whose  child  lies  sick  vows  her  magnificent 
hair  to  the  Virgin  of  the  Atocha,  or  of  the  Pillar, 
or  some  of  the  many  others  scattered  about  the 
country,  if  only  she  will  grant  what  she  asks; 
and  you  may  see  these  marvellous  locks,  tied 
with  coloured  ribbons,  hanging  amongst  the 
motley  assemblage  of  votive  offerings  by  the  side 
of  her  altar,  when  the  prayer  has  been  answered. 
It  is  difficult  for  us,  with  the  best  intentions,  not 
to  let  prejudice  colour  our  judgment,  and  to 
understand  what  we  are  told  —  that  these  are 
really  all  the  same  "  Mother  of  God  " ;  for,  if  so, 
one  would  imagine  that  she  would  hear  the  de- 
vout prayers  of  her  worshippers,  to  whichever  of 
the  wooden  images — most  of  them  said  to  have 
been  carved  by  St.  Luke,  and  black  by  age,  if  not 
by  nature — they  are  addressed.  But  no,  the  Vir- 

1  "  But  I  have  such  a  stunning  pair  of  whiskers  ! 

The  best  that  have  ever  been  seen  since  those  of 
Jesus  Christ !  " 


Religious  Life  205 

gen  del  Carmen  is  only  efficacious  in  certain  cir- 
cumstances; and  in  the  time  of  Isabel  II.  she  used 
to  be  taken  down  from  her  altar  and  placed  in  the 
Queen's  bedroom  whenever  an  addition  to  the 
Royal  Family  was  imminent.  Those  in  the  other 
parts  of  Spain  have  each  their  specialty,  and  pil- 
grimages are  necessary  to  their  shrines  before  the 
prayers  addressed  to  them  can  be  listened  to  by 
the  original. 

The  various  saints  in  their  way  are  wooed  with 
candles  burnt  before  their  images,  or  little  altars 
set  up  to  them  at  home;  but  they  are  sometimes 
treated  with  scant  courtesy  if  they  do  not  answer 
the  expectations  of  their  worshippers.  On  one 
occasion  in  Madrid,  I  remember,  San  Isidro,  who 
is  the  patron  of  the  labouring  classes,  had  the  bad 
taste,  as  his  votaries  considered,  to  send  rain  on 
his  own  fiesta — a  thing  unknown  before.  Lest  he 
should  err  in  this  way  again,  the  mob  went  to  his 
church,  at  that  time  the  principal  one  in  Madrid, 
smashed  the  windows,  and  did  all  the  damage 
they  could  compass  before  the  Civil  Guards  came 
to  the  rescue.  A  servant-girl  I  knew,  had  for  a 
long  time  been  praying  to  San  Antonio  to  send 
her  a  novio  (sweetheart),  expending  money  in 
tapers,  and  otherwise  trying  to  propitiate  the 
saint.  At  last,  finding  him  deaf  to  all  entreaties, 
she  took  the  little  wooden  image  she  had  bought, 
tied  a  string  round  his  neck,  and  hung  him  in  the 
well,  saying :  ' '  You  shall  stop  there  till  you  send 
me  what  I  want."  Some  little  time  after,  she 


206  Spanish  Life 

actually  found  a  novio,  and  hastened  gratefully  to 
take  San  Antonio  out  of  his  damp  quarters,  set 
him  up  on  his  altar  again,  and  burn  tapers  for 
his  edification.  I  had  thought  this  an  example 
of  special  ignorance  and  superstition;  but  the 
other  day,  in  reading  some  of  the  papers  of  the 
Spanish  Folklore  Library,  I  found  there  is  a  wide- 
spread belief  that  if  San  Antonio,  and  probably 
some  other  saints,  do  not  answer  the  prayers  of 
their  votaries  who  burn  candles  before  them,  it  is 
a  good  thing  to  hang  them  in  a  well  till  they  come 
to  their  senses !  It  is  difficult  for  any  unbiassed 
person  to  understand  that  this  is  not  fetish  wor- 
ship, as  it  would  certainly  seem  to  be,  but  we  are 
told  that  it  is  something  quite  different. 

The  religious  fiestas,  as  I  have  said,  may  be 
classed  among  the  amusements  of  the  people. 
During  the  warm  season  they  invariably  end 
with  a  bull-fight.  In  winter  there  are  no  bulls. 
Whether  it  be  the  Romeria  of  Santiago  de  Com- 
postelo,  the  Santa  Semana  in  Toledo  or  Seville, 
Noche-Buena  and  the  Day  of  the  Nativity  in  Madrid 
or  Barcelona,  gaiety  and  enjoyment  seem  to  be 
the  order  of  the  day.  Even  Lent  is  not  so  bad, 
for  j  ust  before  it  comes  the  Carnival  and  the  gro- 
tesque "Burial  of  the  Sardine  "  by  \hQgente  bajo, 
and  of  the  three  great  masked  balls,  one  is  given 
in  mid-I/ent,  to  prevent  the  Lenten  ordeal  being 
too  trying,  and  Holy  Thursday  is  always  a  fiesta 
and  day  of  enjoyment.  On  this  day,  in  Madrid, 
takes  place  the  washing  of  the  feet  of  the  poor  in 


Religious  Life  207 

the  Royal  Palace — a  function  that  savours  a  good 
deal  of  the  ridiculous,  but  which  was  never 
omitted  by  the  piadosa  Isabel  II.,  and  was  re- 
vived by  her  son.  For  forty-eight  hours  the  bells 
of  all  the  churches  remain  silent,  no  vehicles  are 
allowed  in  the  streets,  which  are  gravelled  along 
the  routes  Royalty  will  take  to  visit  on  foot  seven 
of  the  churches,  where  the  Holy  Sepulchres 
are  displayed;  and  in  the  afternoon  all  Madrid 
resorts  to  the  Plaza  del  Sol  and  the  Carrera  San 
Geronimo,  to  show  off  their  gayest  costumes  in  a 
regular  gala  promenade.  Finally,  on  Saturday 
morning — why  forty-eight  hours  only  is  allowed 
for  the  supposed  entombment  does  not  quite  ap- 
pear— the  bells  clang  forth,  noise  and  gaiety  per- 
vade the  whole  city,  and  the  day  ends  with  a 
cock-fight  and  the  reopening  of  the  theatres,  and 
the  first  grand  bull-fight  of  the  season  is  held  on 
Easter  Sunday.  Verily,  the  Church  is  mindful  of 
the  weakness  of  its  vassals,  and  shows  as  much 
indulgence  as  is  thought  needful  to  keep  the  peo- 
ple amused  and  careless  of  all  else.  I  remember, 
when  I  first  noticed  this  wearing  of  the  most 
gaudy  colours  on  Maundy  Thursday,  a  day  one 
would  naturally  expect  to  be  one  of  special 
mourning,  I  was  told  it  was  allowed  by  the 
Church  because  on  that  day  Pilate  put  the  purple 
robe  on  Our  Lord ! 

The  processions  and  functions  of  Holy  Week 
and  other  fiestas  have  been  so  often  and  so  fully 
described  that  there  is  no  need  to  refer  to  them; 


208  Spanish  Life 

but  there  are  several  curious  survivals  and  re- 
ligious customs  in  out-of-the-way  places  which 
seem  to  have  escaped  notice.  I  have  not  been 
able  to  find  in  any  book  on  Spain  a  description  of 
the  strange  dance  which  takes  place  in  the  cathe- 
dral of  Seville  on,  I  think,  three  days  in  the  year, 
of  which  two  are  certainly  the  day  of  the  Virgin 
and  that  of  Corpus  Christi.  The  origin  of  the 
dance  seems  to  be  lost,  nor  is  its  special  connec- 
tion with  Seville  known.  All  that  one  can  hear 
of  it  is  that  one  of  the  archbishops  of  Toledo 
objected  to  the  dance  as  being  irreverent  and  un- 
usual, and  ordered  it  to  be  stopped.  The  indig- 
nant people  referred  the  matter  to  the  Pope,  but 
even  the  date  of  this  appeal  seems  to  be  dubious, 
if  not  unknown.  His  Holiness  replied  that  he 
could  not  judge  of  the  matter  unless  he  himself 
saw  the  dance.  Accordingly,  the  boys  who 
figure  in  this  strange  performance  were  taken 
to  Rome,  and  they  solemnly  danced  before  the 
Pope.  His  verdict  was  that  there  was  nothing 
irreverent  about  the  dance,  but  he  thought,  as  it 
was  known  only  to  Seville,  it  would  be  better 
eventually  to  discontinue  it ;  but  so  long  as  the 
dress  worn  on  the  occasions  when  it  is  practised, 
lasted,  the  dance  might  continue.  The  dresses 
have  lasted  to  the  present  day,  and  will  always 
continue  to  last,  say  the  Sevillanos,  for  as  one  part 
wears  out  it  is  renewed,  but  never  a  whole  gar- 
ment made.  The  dress  is  peculiar:  it  consists  of 
short  trousers  to  the  knees,  and  a  jacket  which 


Religious  Life  209 

hangs  from  one  shoulder,  stockings  and  shoes 
with  large  buckles  or  bows,  and  a  soft  hat,  some- 
what of  the  shape  of  a  Tam-o'-shanter,  with  one 
feather — that  of  an  eagle,  I  think.  The  dress  is 
red  and  white  for  the  day  of  Corpus,  and  blue 
and  white  for  the  day  of  the  Virgin,  covered  with 
the  richest  gold  embroidery,  for  which  Spain  has 
always  been  famous.  The  boys,  holding  castanets 
in  each  hand,  advance,  dancing  with  much  grace 
and  dignity,  until  they  reach  the  front  of  the  High 
Altar;  there  they  remain,  striking  their  castanets 
and  performing  slow  and  very  graceful  evolutions 
for  some  time,  gradually  retiring  again  as  they 
came  in,  dancing,  down  the  nave.  The  boys  are 
regularly  instructed  in  the  dance  by  the  priests, 
and  the  number  is  kept  up,  so  that  neither  dancers 
nor  garments  ever  fail.  The  Pope's  order  is 
obeyed,  while  the  Sevillanos  retain  their  strange 
religious  function.  The  fact  of  the  performance 
taking  place  in  the  evening  perhaps  accounts  for 
its  being  so  little  known,  but  it  would  seem  also 
as  if  the  authorities  of  the  cathedral  do  not  care 
to  have  attention  drawn  to  it.  The  dance  is  called 
los  seises,  and  even  the  origin  of  the  name  is  un- 
known. 

In  Holy  Week  and  at  Christmas  are  performed 
passion  plays  at  some  of  the  theatres,  strangely 
realistic,  and  sometimes  rousing  the  audience  to 
wild  indignation,  especially  against  Judas  Iscariot, 
who  is  hissed  and  hooted,  and  is  often  the  recipient 
of  missiles  from  the  spectators,  while  interspersed 


2io  Spanish  Life 

with  this  genuine  feeling  one  hears  shouts  of 
laughter  when  anything  occurs  to  provoke  it. 
On  one  occasion  one  of  the  Roman  soldiers  (al- 
ways unpopular  in  the  religious  processions)  ap- 
peared on  the  stage,  dragging,  by  a  cord  round 
the  neck,  a  miserable-looking  man  carrying  a 
huge  cross,  so  heavy  that  it  caused  him  con- 
tinually to  fall.  As  the  soldier  kicked  him  up 
again,  and  continued  to  drag  him  along  by  the 
neck,  the  audience  became  ungovernable  in  their 
rage.  "DSjale!  DSjale  !  Bruto  !  Bruto!"  they 
yelled ;  and,  finally  threatening  to  storm  the  stage 
and  immolate  the  offending  soldier,  the  play  had 
to  be  stopped  and  the  curtain  rung  down. 

In  villages  too  poor  to  possess pasos — the  beauti- 
fully modelled  life-size  figures  which  form  the 
tableaux  in  the  rich  churches  and  processions — 
human  actors  take  their  place.  In  Castellon  de 
la  Plana,  where  there  is  a  yearly  procession  in 
honour  of  Santa  Maria  Magdalena,  somewhat 
curious  scenes  take  place.  The  Magdalen,  in  the 
days  of  her  sin,  is  acted  by  a  girl  chosen  for  her 
beauty,  but  not  for  her  character.  She  is  gor- 
geously attired,  and  is  allowed  to  retain  her  dress 
and  ornaments  after  the  performance.  She  is  in- 
stalled in  state  in  a  cart  decorated  with  palms  and 
flowers,  and  is  surrounded  by  all  the  men  of  the 
village  on  foot,  for  it  is  part  of  the  performance 
that  they  are  allowed  to  say  what  they  please  to 
her.  She  acts  the  part  to  perfection  apparently, 
and  enjoys  it,  to  boot.  In  another  car  comes  the 


Religious  Life  211 

penitent  Magdalen,  dressed  in  pure  white,  and 
decorated  with  flowers.  This  part  may  be  taken 
only  by  a  young  girl  of  unblemished  character. 
It  is  thought  the  greatest  honour  that  can  be  paid 
to  her,  and  you  are  told  by  the  people  that  she  is 
always  married  within  the  year.  This  procession 
winds  its  way  up  the  mountain  to  a  small  shrine 
of  Santa  Maria  Magdalena,  where  it  is  said  that 
her  church  once  stood;  but  finding  the  climb  up 
the  hill  was  inconvenient  to  the  lame  and  the 
aged,  she  very  considerately,  one  night,  moved 
the  whole  edifice  down  intact  to  Castellon  de  la 
Plana,  where  it  now  stands. 

Going  by  rail  once,  many  years  ago,  to  Toledo, 
to  see  the  processions  on  Good  Friday,  the  train 
was  accidentally  delayed  for  some  time  a  little 
distance  from  one  of  the  stations,  and  there,  in  a 
small  garden  by  the  roadside,  was  being  enacted 
the  scene  of  the  Crucifixion  by  human  actors.  A 
full-size  cross  was  erected,  and  on  it,  apparently, 
hung  a  man  crowned  with  thorns,  and  with  head 
bowed  upon  his  breast.  In  reality  he  was  kneel- 
ing on  two  ledges  placed  for  the  purpose  at  a  con- 
venient distance  from  the  cross-bars.  It  was  cold, 
and  the  actor  was  covered  by  an  old  brown  tat- 
tered cloak,  such  as  the  peasants  wear  now,  and 
which  we  see  in  Velasquez's  pictures.  His  feet 
stuck  out  behind  the  cross,  but  his  arms  were  tied 
in  a  position  which  must  soon  have  become  pain- 
ful. Around  lay  a  cock  tied  by  his  legs,  a  ladder, 
a  sponge  tied  on  a  stick,  a  sword,  a  lantern,  and 


212 


Spanish  Life 


all  the  usual  emblems  of  the  Passion.  The  holy 
women  and  the  Roman  soldiers  with  their  spears 
were  just  coming  out  of  the  cottage  hard  by  to 
take  up  their  positions  in  this  strange  and  pathetic 
tableau.  The  face  of  that  peasant  in  the  tattered 
brown  cloak,  not  less  than  the  spectacle  of  the 
people  kneeling  around  in  evident  sorrow  and 
worship,  haunted  me  for  many  a  day. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

EDUCATION  AND  THE  PRIESTHOOD 

EDUCATION,  especially  that  of  the  masses, 
has  made  great  strides  since  the  Revolution. 
At  that  time  perfect  liberty  of  religion  and  of  in- 
struction was  established,  and  in  this  particular 
the  somewhat  retrograde  movement  at  the  Restor- 
ation, in  allowing  the  return  of  the  religious 
orders  banished  in  the  early  years  of  the  century, 
has  only  resulted  in  a  greater  number  of  private 
schools  being  established  by  the  Jesuits  and  other 
teaching  orders.  With  the  public  instruction  they 
have  never  been  allowed  to  interfere. 

Every  town  and  village  has  now  its  municipal 
and  free  schools,  kept  up  by  the  Diputadon  pro- 
vincial. In  all  the  chief  towns  there  are  technical 
and  arts  and  crafts  schools,  also  free,  the  expenses 
being  borne  by  the  Ministry  of  Fomento.  Besides 
these  are  many  private  schools,  taught  by  Jesuits 
and  other  teaching  orders.  The  Ministry  of  Fo- 
mento is  at  present  trying  to  bring  in  a  law 
making  education  compulsory,  and  bringing  all 
schools  under  State  control.  There  are  numerous 
girls'  schools,  managed  by  committees  of  ladies, 
213 


Spanish  Life 

as  well  as  the  convent  schools  and  other  private 
establishments.  There  are  also  normal  schools, 
maintained  by  the  Ministry  of  Fomento,  where 
women  and  girls,  as  well  as  men,  can  take  degrees 
and  gain  certificates  for  teaching  purposes.  In 
every  capital  of  Spain  one  of  these  schools  is 
established.  There  are  ten  universities,  of  which 
the  principal  is  that  of  Madrid.  In  some  of  these 
only  medicine  and  law  are  studied,  but  others  are 
open  for  every  class  of  learning.  In  all  these 
numerous  schools  and  colleges  great  advance  has 
been  made  in  late  years;  in  the  department  of 
science,  electricity  has  taken  a  ver>  noticeable 
step  forward,  and  in  applied  electricity  Spain 
probably  compares  favourably  with  any  of  the 
European  nations.  Even  the  small  towns  and 
some  villages  are  lighted  by  electricity,  having 
gone  straight  from  petroleum  to  electric  light. 
Most  of  the  large  towns  have,  besides  the  light, 
electric  tramways,  telephones,  etc.,  the  engineers 
and  artisans  employed  in  these  works  being  of  a 
very  high  class.  Electrical  engineers  are  not  under 
Government  control,  as  the  civil  and  mechanical 
engineers  are,  and  have  therefore  better  chances 
of  coming  to  the  front  and  making  a  career  for 
themselves.  The  Government  engineers,  how- 
ever, are  kept  up  to  the  mark  of  other  countries, 
and  an  attempt  has  been  made  by  the  present 
Minister  to  alter  the  system  by  which  civil  and 
mechanical  engineers  are  compulsorily  a  body  ap- 
pointed and  controlled  by  Government. 


Education  and  the  Priesthood    215 

Medical  science  has  made  great  strides  during 
the  last  ten  or  twelve  years.  The  hospitals  are 
reformed,  and  all  sanitary  and  antiseptical  ar- 
rangements are  now  strictly  attended  to,  and 
brought  into  line  with  the  latest  developments  of 
science.  A  fine  new  hospital,  San  Juan  de  Dios, 
has  been  built  in  Madrid,  on  the  plan  of  St. 
Thomas's  in  London,  and  this  is  only  one  of  many 
improvements.  The  reorganisation  of  all  scien- 
tific teaching  is  now  engaging  the  attention  of 
the  Minister.  An  excellent  sign  of  the  present 
state  of  medical  science  in  Spain — which  only  a 
few  years  ago  was  so  far  behind  the  age — is  the 
fact  that  the  International  Congress  of  Medicine 
is  fixed  to  meet  in  Madrid,  for  the  first  time,  in 
1902. 

Since  the  establishment  of  religious  liberty,  the 
Americans  seem  to  have  made  themselves  very 
busy  in  missionary  work.  Mrs.  Gulick,  the  wife 
of  the  American  missionary  in  San  Sebastian, 
claims  to  have  ' '  proved  the  intellectual  ability  of 
Spanish  girls,"  and  has  secured  State  examina- 
tion and  recognition  of  her  pupils  by  the  National 
Institution  of  San  Sebastian,  and  a  few  have  even 
obtained  admission  to  the  examinations  of  the 
Madrid  University,  where  they  maintained  a  high 
rank.  One  always  has  a  feeling  that  missionaries 
might  easily  find  a  field  for  their  zealous  labours 
in  their  own  country;  but  if  an  impulse  was 
needed  from  a  foreign  people  for  the  initiation  of 
a  higher  education  among  the  daughters  of  Spain, 


216  Spanish  Life 

they  will  certainly  be  able  to  carry  on  the  work 
themselves,  with  such  women  as  Emelia  Pardo 
Bazan  to  lead  the  way.  Mrs.  Gulick  is  said  to 
project  a  college  for  women  in  Madrid  without 
distinction  of  creed.  The  whole  affair  sounds 
a  little  condescending,  as  though  America  were 
coming  to  the  aid  of  a  nation  of  savages ;  but  if 
the  Spaniards  themselves  do  not  object,  no  one 
else  has  any  right  to  do  so. 

The  Protestant  movement  has  made  but  little 
progress  in  Spain.  The  religion  is  scarcely  fitted 
to  the  genius  of  the  people,  and  the  Anglican 
Church  has  shown  no  desire  to  proselytise  a  na- 
tion which  has  as  much  right  to  its  own  religious 
opinions  and  form  of  worship  as  the  English  na- 
tion. The  Americans  and  English  Nonconform- 
ists are  very  busy,  however,  and  talk  somewhat 
largely  of  the  results  of  their  labours.  In  most  of 
the  large  towns  there  are  English  chapels  and 
schools,  and  a  certain  number  among  the  lower 
classes  of  Spaniards  have  joined  these  communi- 
ties. A  private  diary  of  a  visit  to  Madrid  so  long 
ago  as  1877  describes  the  English  service  there. 
The  congregation  numbered,  "  quite  five  hun- 
dred. "  "  They  were  of  the  poorer  classes  of  both 
sexes,  with  a  sprinkling  of  well-dressed  men  and 
women.  They  seemed  to  perform  their  devotions 
in  a  spirit  of  entire  reverence  and  piety,  not  unlike 
a  similar  class  in  our  churches  at  home.  The 
clergyman  delivered  an  impressive  and  forcible 
discourse,  chiefly  on  the  honour  due  to  the  name 


Education  and  the  Priesthood    217 

of  God,  and  reprobated  the  profane  use  of  the 
most  sacred  names,  so  common  among  the  Spanish 
people.  .  .  .  Altogether  I  look  upon  the  con- 
gregation at  the  Calle  de  Madera  as  a  nucleus  of 
genuine  Protestantism  in  Spain." 

As  this  is  the  opinion  of  a  perfectly  unbiassed 
onlooker,  and  has  nothing  of  the  professional  ele- 
ment about  it,  it  may  be  taken  as  absolutely  re- 
liable. In  the  towns,  such  as  Bilbao,  where  there 
is  a  large  English  colony,  there  are  various 
churches  and  chapels,  and  considerable  numbers 
of  communicants  and  Sunday  scholars.  Looking 
back,  as  I  am  able  to  do,  to  the  days  when  there 
was  no  toleration  for  an  alien  faith;  when  even 
Christian  burial  for  the  "heretic"  was  quite  a 
new  thing,  and  living  people  could  tell  of  the  in- 
dignities heaped  on  the  corpse  of  any  unlucky 
English  man  or  woman  who  died  in  "  Catholic  " 
Spain;  when  to  have  omitted,  or  even  hesitated 
about,  any  of  the  religious  actions  imposed  by  the 
Church  would  have  exposed  one  to  gross  insult, 
and  perhaps  injury;  the  progress  towards  en- 
lightened toleration  of  the  opinions  of  others 
seems  to  have  been  remarkable.  It  is,  perhaps, 
more  significant  that  the  members  of  the  new 
congregations  should  be  generally  of  the  lower 
classes,  because  it  is  precisely  these  people  who 
have  always  been  mere  unthinking  puppets  in  the 
hands  of  their  priests. 

Although  there  is  at  the  present  moment  such 
a  deep  and  widespread  revolt  against  'the  Jesuits 


218  Spanish  Life 

and  some  of  the  other  orders,  especially  among 
the  students  and  the  better  class  of  artisans  and 
workmen,  there  is  not,  so  far  as  a  stranger  may 
judge,  a  revolt  against  the  Church  itself,  nor  even 
against  the  parochial  clergy.  It  would  seem 
rather  that  there  is  a  fixed  determination  that  the 
priests  shall  keep  to  their  business,  that  of  the 
service  of  religion,  and  shall  not  be  allowed  to  in- 
terfere in  secular  education,  or,  by  use  of  the  con- 
fessional, to  dominate  the  family;  and,  above  all, 
that  the  convents  shall  not  be  filled  by  force,  un- 
due persuasion,  or  cajolery.  The  state  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  religion  and  its  priesthood  in 
England  is  constantly  being  held  up  as  the  ideal 
of  what  the  Church  in  Spain  should  be. 

Almost  all  the  modern  novelists  of  Spain  show 
us  characters  of  priests  with  whom  every  reader 
must  feel  sympathy.  Valera,  Galdos,  Pardo 
Bazan,  and  others  depict  individual  clerics  who 
are  simple,  straightforward,  pious,  and  in  every 
way  worthy  men,  the  friend  of  the  young  and  the 
helper  of  the  sorrowful.  Sometimes  they  are 
not  very  learned,  and  not  at  all  worldly-wise,  but 
they  show  that  the  type  is  largely  represented 
amongst  the  priesthood  of  Spain,  and  there  are  not 
wanting  some  of  distinctly  liberal  tendencies. 
There  was  a  remarkable  article  in  a  Madrid  paper 
of  radical,  if  not  socialistic,  tendencies,  the  other 
day,  by  one  who  signed  himself  "A  priest  of  the 
Spanish  Catholic  Church."  Lamenting  over  the 
sentimentalism  of  modern  religion,  and  the  dis- 


Education  and  the  Priesthood    219 

tance  it  had  travelled  from  its  old  models,  he  says: 
"  Instead  of  the  Virgen  being  held  up  to  admira- 
tion as  the  Mother  of  Our  L,ord,  and  as  an  ex- 
ample of  all  feminine  perfection,  the  ideal  woman 
and  mother,  the  people  are  called  on  to  worship 
the  idea  of  the  Immaculate  Conception,  an  ab- 
stract dogma  of  recent  invention,  and  in  place  of 
showing  us  the  perfect  man  in  the  Son  of  God, 
they  are  asked  to  worship  a  '  bleeding  heart, '  ab- 
stracted from  the  body,  and  held  up  as  an  object 
of  reverence,  apart  from  the  living  body  of  Jesus 
Christ."  It  is  the  reform  of  the  national  religion 
still  ardently  loved  in  spite  of  all  the  crimes  that 
have  been  committed  in  her  name,  that  the  liberal- 
minded  Spaniard  wants,  not  the  substitution  of 
a  foreign  church;  although  no  doubt  the  op- 
portunity, now  for  the  first  time  possible,  of 
learning  that  there  are  people  every  whit  as  good 
and  earnest  as  themselves,  who  yet  hold  religious 
opinions  other  than  theirs,  is  bound  to  have  a 
widening  and  softening  effect  on  the  narrowness 
of  a  creed  which  has  hitherto  been  regarded  as 
the  only  one. 

The  extraordinary  outbreak  against  the  Jesuits 
and  the  religious  orders  of  the  last  year  had  many 
causes,  and  had  probably  long  been  seething,  and 
waiting  for  something  to  open  the  floodgates. 
That  something  came  in  the  marriage  of  the 
Princess  of  Asturias,  and  the  coincidence,  acci- 
dental or  otherwise,  of  the  production  of  Galdos's 
play  of  Electra.  The  marriage  was  a  love  match ; 


220  Spanish  Life 

the  two  young  sons  of  the  Count  of  Caserta,  who 
were  nephews  of  the  Infanta  Isabel  on  her  hus- 
band's side,  had  been  constantly  at  the  Palace 
in  Madrid,  companions  of  the  boy  King.  An 
attachment  sprang  up  between  Don  Carlos,  the 
elder  of  the  two,  and  the  King's  elder  sister,  the 
Princess  of  Asturias.  In  every  way  the  projected 
marriage  was  obnoxious  to  the  people.  The 
Count  of  Caserta  himself  had  been  chief  of  the 
staff  to  the  Pretender,  Don  Carlos,  and  though  he 
and  his  sons  had  taken  the  oath  of  allegiance  to 
the  young  King,  Spaniards  have  learned  to  place 
little  reliance  on  such  oaths.  Had  not  Montpen- 
sier  sworn  allegiance  to  his  sister-in-law  Isabel 
II.?  and  of  how  much  was  it  worth  when  the 
time  came  that  he  thought  he  could  successfully 
conspire  against  her?  To  allow  the  heiress  to 
the  Crown  to  marry  a  Carlist  seemed  the  surest 
way  to  reopen  civil  war,  and  upset  the  dynasty 
once  more.  Moreover,  the  Jesuits  were  supposed 
to  be  behind  it  all.  The  Apostolic  party  was  ap- 
parently scotched  and  Carlism  dead,  but  was  not 
this  one  more  move  of  the  hated  Jesuits  to  re- 
suscitate both  ?  The  Liberal  Government  refused 
to  allow  the  marriage;  the  Queen  Regent,  actu- 
ated, it  is  said,  solely  by  the  desire  to  secure  what 
she  considered  the  happiness  of  her  daughter,  who 
refused  to  give  up  her  lover,  was  obstinate;  and 
rather  than  give  in,  Sagasta  and  his  Ministers  re- 
signed. A  Conservative  Ministry  was  formed — 
the  methods  of  manipulating  elections  must  be 


Education  and  the  Priesthood    221 

borne  in  mind — and  the  marriage  was  carried  out. 
Even  before  the  wedding-day  the  storm  broke, 
and  things  looked  ugly  enough.  Riots  and  dis- 
turbances occurred  all  over  the  country,  as  well 
as  in  Madrid  itself;  attacks  were  made  on  the 
houses  of  the  Jesuits,  who  were  credited  with  be- 
ing the  authors  of  the  situation ;  and  then  followed 
the  Government's  suicidal  step  of  suspending  the 
constitutional  guarantees  over  the  whole  country. 
Absolutism  had  once  more  raised  its  head!  The 
Conservative  Ministers,  or  many  of  them,  were 
accused  of  being  mere  tools  in  the  hands  of  the 
Jesuits,  and  it  was  complained  that  the  confessor 
of  the  young  King  was  one  of  the  hated  order. 

For  a  time  Spain  seemed  to  be  on  the  verge  of 
one  of  her  old  convulsions.  It  appeared  doubtful 
if  the  Queen  Regent  had  not  sacrificed  the  crown 
of  one  child  to  gratify  the  obstinacy  of  another. 
Fortunately,  a  catastrophe  was  averted.  After 
vain  efforts  to  retain  the  Conservative  party  in 
power,  or  to  form  a  coalition,  which  all  the  best 
public  men  refused  to  join,  Sagasta  was  once  more 
recalled  to  power,  the  constitutional  guarantees 
were  restored,  and  the  sharp  crisis  passed.  But 
the  attention  of  the  nation  had  been  attracted 
to  what  it  considered  the  machinations  of  the 
Jesuits;  order  was  indeed  restored  in  Madrid  and 
the  provinces,  but  the  ' '  clerical  question ' '  had 
come  to  the  front,  and  there  was  no  possibility  of 
allowing  it  to  slumber  again.  It  was  discovered 
that  not  only  had  many  of  the  religious  orders, 


222  Spanish  Life 

whose  return  had  been  allowed  by  convention  after 
the  Restoration,  under  certain  limitations,  largely 
increased  their  numbers  beyond  the  limits  allowed 
them,  but  that  others  had  established  themselves 
without  any  authorisation  from  the  Government; 
also  that  considerable  properties  were  being 
acquired  in  the  country  by  the  orders,  though,  of 
course,  held  under  other  names.  The  Chamber 
of  Commerce  and  Industry  of  Madrid  petitioned 
the  Government  to  order  an  inquiry  into  the 
affairs  of  these  religious  bodies,  pointing  out  that 
they  were  establishing  manufactories  of  shoes, 
chocolate,  fancy  post-cards,  and  other  objects  of 
commerce,  interfering  with  the  ordinary  trades, 
and  underselling  them,  because,  under  the  plea 
of  being  charitable  institutions,  they  evaded  duty. 
The  heads  of  colleges  and  the  Society  of  Public 
Teachers  also  asked  for  Government  interference 
and  the  reassertion  of  the  laws  of  1881  and  1895, 
guaranteeing  perfect  liberty  of  instruction,  be- 
cause they  affirmed  that  the  Fathers,  Jesuit  and 
others,  undermined  the  teaching  of  science  in  the 
schools  by  means  of  tracts  distributed  to  the 
pupils,  and  also  by  using  the  power  they  obtained 
in  the  confessional  to  set  aside  the  lessons  in 
science  given  in  the  colleges. 

The  action  of  the  Government  was  prompt  and 
judicious.  Strict  inquiries  were  at  once  made 
into  the  question  of  the  manufacturing  orders, 
and  those  not  paying  the  duty  were  reminded 
of  the  immediate  necessity  of  doing  so,  and  of 


Education  and  the  Priesthood    223 

furnishing  to  the  Ministry  of  Fomento  full  par- 
ticulars of  the  trades  carried  on  by  them.  Houses 
that  were  permitted  by  convention  were  warned 
to  reduce  their  numbers  to  those  allowed  by  law, 
and  all  unauthorised  orders  were  warned  at  once 
to  leave  the  country.  The  Press  took  a  dig- 
nified and  moderate  position  in  the  matter.  It 
pointed  out  that  perfect  religious  liberty  existed, 
and  that  all  that  was  needful  was  to  see  that  the 
religious  orders  obeyed  the  law  of  the  country  as 
other  people  did;  but  that  to  inaugurate  a  system 
of  persecution  would  be  to  return  to  the  Dark 
Ages,  and  to  follow  the  bad  example  set  by  the 
Church  itself  in  former  years. 

Meanwhile,  a  clear  intimation  had  been  given 
by  the  Government  that  public  instruction  was 
absolutely  free,  and  that  no  interference  would 
be  allowed  with  the  teaching  of  science  in  the 
public  schools.  After  all,  public  opinion  alone 
can  deal  with  the  question  of  the  confessional  and 
the  occult  influence  of  the  priest,  for  the  remedy 
lies  in  the  hands  of  those  who  place  themselves 
under  the  domination  of  the  confessor. 

So  far,  well!  The  riots  were  at  an  end,  and 
the  more  sensible  and  law-abiding  people  were 
satisfied  that  the  ground  stealthily  gained  by  the 
Jesuits  had  been  cut  from  under  their  feet  as  soon 
as  the  full  light  of  day  had  been  let  in  on  their 
proceedings.  Then  came  the  extraordinary  ex- 
citement caused  by  Gald6s's  play.  To  a  stranger 
reading  it,  it  is  obvious  that  the  public  mind  must 


224  Spanish  Life 

have  been  in  a  strange  condition  of  alarm  and  dis- 
trust to  have  had  such  an  effect  produced  upon  it 
by  a  drama  which  has  no  great  literary  worth, 
and  which  appears  commonplace  and  harmless  to 
an  outsider.  The  story  is  simply  that  of  a  young 
orphan  girl,  who,  according  to  Spanish  ideas,  is 
extremely  unconventional,  though  nothing  worse. 
There  is  nothing  of  the  emancipated  young  wo- 
man about  her  as  the  type  is  known  in  England ; 
in  fact,  she  has  a  perfect  genius  for  those  domestic 
virtues  which  "advanced"  English  women  re- 
gard with  disdain.  The  villain  of  the  piece,  is 
a  certain  Don  Salvador,  who,  though  the  fact 
is  never  mentioned,  is  obviously  a  Jesuit,  and  the 
interest  of  the  play  consists  in  the  efforts  made  by 
this  man,  first  by  fair  means  and  then  by  foul,  to 
separate  Electra  from  her  fiancg,  and  immure  her 
in  a  convent.  He  succeeds,  to  all  appearance,  by 
at  last  resorting  to  an  infamous  lie,  which  reduces 
the  girl  to  a  state  of  insanity,  in  which  she  flies 
to  the  convent  from  the  lover  whom  she  has  been 
led  to  believe  is  her  own  brother.  Finally,  by  the 
action  of  a  nun  who  leaves  the  convent  at  the 
same  time  as  Electra,  the  truth  is  made  known, 
and  the  girl  is  rescued. 

"You  fly  from  me,  then?"  exclaims  Don 
Salvador. 

"  It  is  not  flight,  it  is  resurrection!  "  replies  the 
lover,  in  the  last  words  of  the  play. 

This  drama  ran  an  unprecedented  number  of 
nights  in  Madrid,  over  fifteen  thousand  copies  of 


Education  and  the  Priesthood    225 

the  book  were  sold  in  a  few  weeks,  and  it  is  still 
running  in  the  provinces.  Some  of  the  bishops 
and  the  superior  clergy  have  had  the  folly  to  de- 
nounce the  play  and  to  forbid  their  congregations 
to  witness  or  to  read  it.  There  is  not  an  objec- 
tionable word  or  idea  in  it  from  first  to  last,  ex- 
cept such  as  may  be  disagreeable  to  the  Church — 
as  that  women  should  be  educated  so  as  to  be  the 
intellectual  companions  of  their  husbands,  and 
should  not  be  entrapped  into  convents  by  foul 
means  and  against  their  will.  The  action  taken 
by  the  clergy  in  this  matter  has  not  only  largely 
advertised  the  play,  but  has  led  to  angry  demon- 
strations against  them,  and  has  strengthened  the 
temper  of  the  people  to  resist  all  clerical  domina- 
tion in  temporal  matters. 

There  have  not  been  wanting  from  time  to  time 
signs,  especially  in  the  large  manufacturing  towns, 
of  a  spirit  of  revolt  against  all  religion.  Socialism, 
atheism,  and  even  anarchism  are  all  in  the  air,  and 
if  these  are  to  be  counteracted  by  religious  teach- 
ing at  all,  it  will  certainly  not  be  by  the  narrow 
dogmatism  of  the  old  school.  There  is  a  deep 
fund  of  religious  feeling  in  the  Spanish  character 
which  it  would  take  a  great  deal  to  uproot,  but  it 
must  be  a  wide-spirited  and  enlightened  faith 
which  will  retain  its  hold  over  the  people,  who 
are  everywhere  breaking  their  old  bonds  and 

thinking  for  themselves. 
15 


CHAPTER  XIV 

PHILANTHROPY — POSITION  OF  WOMEN — 
MARRIAGE  CUSTOMS 

TRAVELLERS  complain  somewhat  bitterly  of 
the  increase  in  the  numbers  and  the  impor- 
tunity of  beggars  in  Spain ;  but  wherever  monks 
abound,  beggars  also  abound,  and  the  long-unac- 
customed sight  of  the  various  religious  habits 
naturally  brings  with  it  the  hordes  of  miserable 
objects  who  afford  opportunities  for  the  faithful  to 
exercise  what  they  are  taught  to  believe  is  charity 
— loved  of  God.  This,  however,  is  more  especially 
the  case  in  Granada,  or  those  favoured  spots 
affected  by  the  rich  tourist,  who  has  not  always 
the  same  opinion  about  indiscriminate  charity  as 
the  native  Spaniard.  In  old  days,  the  wise  policy 
of  Charles  III.  had  reduced  very  greatly  the  swarm 
of  beggars.  A  certain  number  of  terrible-looking 
objects  —  the  fortunate  possessors  of  withered 
limbs,  sightless  eyeballs,  or  other  disqualifications 
for  honest  work  —  still  ostentatiously  displayed 
their  badges  of  professional  mendicancy,  and 
lived,  apparently  quite  comfortably,  on  the  alms 
of  the  passers-by.  But  the  enormous  competition 
226 


Philanthropy  227 

which  has  since  sprung  up  in  this  ' '  career ' '  must 
interfere  a  good  deal  with  its  lucrativeness. 

There  is  no  poor  law  as  yet  in  Spain.  Philan- 
thropy is  left  to  voluntary  effort;  but  the  list  of 
charities  is  so  great,  and  so  widely  spread  over 
the  whole  country, that  one  would  think  wholesale 
beggary  would  be  superfluous.  Madrid  is  divided 
into  thirty-three  parishes,  each  having  a  board 
of  Beneficencias,  the  Government  holding  a  fund 
which  these  boards  administer.  The  Queen  is  the 
President  of  the  whole.  Each  board  has  its  presi- 
dent and  vice-president — generally  ladies  of  the 
aristocracy — a  treasurer,  vice-treasurer,  secretary, 
and  vice-secretary,  and  a  body  of  visitors;  ac- 
counts are  rendered  monthly  to  the  governing 
board,  whose  vice-president  presides  in  the  name 
of  the  Queen.  There  are  also  the  confraternities 
of  St.  Vincent  and  St.  Paul,  the  members  of  which 
are  gentlemen  and  ladies  who  work  independently 
of  each  other.  These,  however,  have  no  estab- 
lished funds,  but  depend  on  voluntary  subscrip- 
tions and  gifts.  Both  these  associations  visit  the 
poor  in  their  own  homes.  The  Pardo  and  the 
San  Bernadino  are  societies  and  homes  for  bene- 
fiting men,  women,  and  children ;  they  have  been 
founded  by  ladies.  For  boys  there  is  the  School 
of  the  Sacred  Heart,  and  the  Christian  Brothers. 
The  School  of  San  Ildefonso  belongs  to  the  Ayun- 
tamiento,  and  has  secular  masters.  There  is  a 
small  asylum,  with  chaplaincy  attached,  for  archi- 
tects. Santa  Rita  is  a  reformatory  for  boys  in 


228  Spanish  Life 

Carabanchel,  under  a  religious  brotherhood.  For 
girls  there  is  the  Horfino,  the  Mercedes  Asylum 
— founded  in  memory  of  and  kept  up  by  the  rents 
of  Queen  Mercedes — Santa  Isabel  and  San  Ilde- 
fonso,  the  French  St.  Vincent  de  Paul,  San  Bias, 
on  the  same  lines  as  the  Mercedes,  Santa  Cruz,  the 
Inclusa,  and  the  Spanish  Vincent  de  Paul.  For 
fallen  girls  there  are  the  Adorers  of  the  Blessed 
Sacrament,  the  L,adies  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  and 
the  Oblates  of  the  Holy  Redeemer. 

In  all  parts  of  the  country  branches  of  these  or 
similar  institutions  abound.  None  are  more  lib- 
eral to  the  funds  of  these  voluntary  charities  than 
the  bull-fighters,  who,  if  they  make  large  for- 
tunes, never  forget  the  class  from  which  they 
sprang,  and  are  most  generous  in  their  donations. 
When  occasion  demands  an  extra  effort,  a  fiesta  is 
given  at  the  Plaza  de  Toros,  and  the  whole  of  the 
profits  go  to  the  charity  for  which  it  has  been 
held.  No  doubt  these  schemes  have  their  faults 
in  operation,  and  Galdos  in  some  of  his  popular 
novels  does  not  fail  to  hold  up — not  exactly  for 
admiration — the  fashionable  ladies  who  think  it 
"smart,"  as  we  should  say,  to  join  these  boards 
and  societies,  and  talk  with  much  unction  of  their 
public  good  works  and  the  statistics  of  their  pet 
societies,  while  neglecting  the  poor  and  the  needy 
at  their  own  doors,  or  trying  to  send  into 
"  Homes"  those  who  have  no  desire  or  need  to 
go  there  if  a  little  Christian  charity  were  only 
shown  them  by  their  neighbours.  Nevertheless, 


Position  of  Women          229 

there  is  a  large  amount  of  organised  philanthropy 
in  Spain  to-day,  and  it  appears  to  be  of  a  wise  and 
efficient  kind.  One  should  not  forget  to  mention 
also  the  workshops  for  the  lowest  orders,  estab- 
lished by  the  Salerian  Fathers,  to  which  the  at- 
tention of  the  Government  has  been  called  by  late 
events. 

The  general  position  of  women  in  Spain  and 
their  influence  »n  public  life  cannot  be  de- 
scribed as  of  an  advanced  order.  As  a  rule,  they 
take  no  leading  part  in  politics,  devoting  them- 
selves chiefly  to  charitable  works,  such  as  those 
already  named.  There  is,  as  we  have  seen,  a 
general  movement  for  higher  education  and 
greater  liberty  of  thought  and  action  amongst 
women,  and  there  is  a  certain  limited  number  who 
frankly  range  themselves  on  the  side  of  so-called 
"  emancipation,"  who  attend  socialistic  and  other 
"meetings" — a  word  which  has  now  been  form- 
ally admitted  into  the  Spanish  language — and  who 
aspire  to  be  the  comrades  of  men  rather  than  their 
objects  of  worship  or  their  playthings.  But  this 
movement  is  scarcely  more  than  in  its  infancy. 
It  must  be  remembered  that  even  within  the 
present  generation  the  bedrooms  allotted  to  girls 
were  always  approached  through  that  of  the 
parents,  that  no  girl  or  unmarried  woman  could 
go  unattended,  and  that  to  be  left  alone  in  the 
room  with  a  man  was  to  lose  her  reputation. 
Already  these  things  seem  to  be  dreams  of  the 
past;  nor  could  one  well  believe,  what  is  however 


230  Spanish  Life 

a  fact,  that  there  were  fathers  of  the  upper  classes 
in  the  first  half  of  the  last  century  who  preferred 
that  their  daughters  should  not  learn  to  read 
or  write,  especially  the  latter,  as  it  only  ena- 
bled them  to  read  letters  clandestinely  received 
from  lovers  and  to  reply  to  them.  The  natural 
consequence  of  this  was  the  custom,  which  so 
largely  prevailed,  of  young  men,  absolutely  un- 
known to  the  parents,  establishing  correspondence 
or  meetings  with  the  objects  of  their  adoration 
by  means  of  a  complaisant  doncella  with  an  open 
palm,  or  the  pastime  known  as  pelando  el  pavo 
(literally  plucking  the  turkey),  which  consisted 
of  serenades  of  love-songs,  amorous  dialogues, 
or  the  passage  of  notes  through  the  reja  —  the 
iron  gratings  which  protect  the  lower  windows  of 
Spanish  houses  from  the  prowling  human  wolf — 
or  from  the  balconies.  Many  a  time  have  I  seen 
these  interesting  little  missives  being  let  down 
past  my  balcony  —  how  trustful  the  innocents 
were!  —  to  the  waiting  gallant  below,  and  his 
drawn  up.  Only  once  I  saw  a  neighbour,  in  the 
balcony  below,  intercept  the  post,  and  I  believe 
substitute  some  other  letter.  Cruel  sport ! 

Perhaps  born  of  this  necessity  of  making  ac- 
quaintance by  fair  means  or  foul  conies  the  cus- 
tom, which  appears  to  savour  of  such  grossly  bad 
manners  to  us,  of  a  man  making  audible  remarks 
on  the  appearance  of  a  girl  he  has  never  seen  be- 
fore as  she  passes  him  in  the  street.  Ay!  que 
buenos  ojos  !  Que  bonita  eres  !  Que  gratia  tienes  ! 


Marriage  Customs  231 

and  the  like.  Far  from  giving  offence,  the  fair 
one  goes  on  her  way,  perhaps  vouchsafing  one 
glance  from  those  lovely  eyes  of  hers,  with  only  a 
sense  that  her  charms  have  received  their  due 
tribute — not  much  elated,  perhaps,  but  certainly 
by  no  means  offended;  nor,  indeed,  was  offence 
intended.  The  fixed  stare,  which  to  us  would 
mean  mere  ill-bred  ignorance,  is  only  another 
ordinary  tribute  to  the  passing  fair  one  from  the 
other  sex. 

Marriage  customs  have  changed  much  in  the 
last  few  decades,  and  even  civil  marriages  are 
now  not  wholly  unknown.  In  old  days,  if  the 
ceremony  was  performed  in  church,  the  bride  and 
all  the  ladies  must  be  attired  in  black,  for  which 
reason  the  fashionable  world  established  mar- 
riages in  the  house,  where  more  brilliant  costumes 
might  be  displayed.  These  generally  take  place 
in  the  evening,  and  the  newly  married  couple  do 
not  leave  the  house,  unless  the  new  home  happens 
to  be  close  by.  In  any  case,  honeymoon  tours  are, 
or  were,  unusual.  The  velada  is  the  ceremony  in 
church,  which  must  take  place  before  the  first 
child  is  born,  to  legalise  the  marriage,  but  it  does 
not  necessarily  immediately  follow  the  other  cere- 
mony. At  it  the  ring  is  given.  When  the  two 
ceremonies  take  place  at  the  same  time  it  must  be 
in  the  morning,  because  the  bride  and  bridegroom 
partake  of  the  Holy  Sacrament  fasting.  From 
the  description  of  a  boda  in  Galicia,  in  one  of 
Pardo  Bazan's  novels,  it  would  seem  that  the 


232  Spanish  Life 

bride  there  wears  white,  even  at  the  church. 
The  wedding  is  a  portentous  affair,  lasting  all  day 
from  early  morning,  and  the  bride  and  bridegroom 
remain  in  the  house.  Fernan  Caballero  devotes 
some  pages  in  dementia  to  showing  how  prefer- 
able is  the  Spanish  custom  of  "  remaining  among 
friends  "  to  that  of  the  newly  married  couple,  as 
she  says,  "exposing  themselves  to  the  jeers  of 
postilions  and  stable-boys."  Yet  the  English 
custom  is  in  fact  gaining  ground,  even  in  con- 
servative Spain. 

Although  marriages  are  often  made  up  by  the 
parents  and  guardians,  as  in  France,  without  any 
freedom  on  the  part  of  the  bride  at  least,  custom 
or  law  gives  the  Spanish  woman  much  more  power 
than  even  in  England.  A  girl  desiring  to  escape 
from  a  marriage  repugnant  to  her  can  claim  pro- 
tection from  a  magistrate,  who  will  even,  if  neces- 
sary, take  her  out  of  her  father's  custody  until 
she  is  of  age  and  her  own  mistress.  More  than 
that,  if  a  girl  determines  to  marry  a  man  of  whom 
her  parents  disapprove,  she  has  only  to  place  her- 
self under  the  protection  of  a  magistrate  to  set 
them  at  defiance,  nor  have  they  the  power  to  de- 
prive her  of  the  share  of  the  family  property  to 
which  by  Spanish  law  she  is  entitled.  I  do  not 
know  if  these  things  are  altered  now, — one  does 
not  hear  so  much  of  them, — but  I  know  of  several 
cases  where  daughters  have  been  married  from 
the  magistrate's  house  against  the  wishes  of  their 
parents.  In  one  case,  the  first  intimation  a  father 


Marriage  Customs  233 

received  of  his  daughter's  engagement  was  the 
notice  from  a  neighbouring  magistrate  that  she 
was  about  to  be  married,  and  in  another,  a  daugh- 
ter left  her  mother's  house  and  was  married  from 
that  of  the  magistrate  to  a  man  without  any  in- 
come and  considerably  below  her  in  rank.  In  all 
these  cases,  the  contracting  parties  were  of  the 
upper  classes. 

While  on  this  subject,  I  must  mention  what 
seems  to  us  the  barbarous  manner  in  which  in- 
fants are  clothed  and  brought  up,  though  the 
English  fashions  of  baths,  healthy  clothing,  and 
suitable  food  are  now  largely  followed  amongst 
the  upper  classes.  When  the  King  was  still  an 
infant  a  great  deal  of  his  clothing  came  from 
England,  and  he  was  brought  up  in  the  English 
method.  This  probably  set  the  fashion,  and  the 
little  ones  playing  in  the  Park  now  are  much  like 
those  one  is  accustomed  to  see  in  London.  But 
among  the  poor,  and  even  some  of  the  bourgeois 
class,  the  old  insane  customs  prevail,  and  it  is 
not  surprising  to  hear  that  the  death-rate  among 
infants  is  extraordinarily  high.  From  its  birth 
the  poor  child  is  tightly  wrapped  in  swaddling 
clothes,  confining  all  its  limbs,  so  that  it  presents 
the  appearance  of  a  mummy,  swathed  in  coarse 
yellow  flannel,  only  its  head  appearing.  So  stiffly 
are  they  rolled  up  that  I  have  seen  an  infant  only 
a  few  weeks  old  propped  up  on  end  against  the 
wall,  or  in  a  corner,  while  the  mother  was  busy. 
There  is  a  superstition,  too,  about  never  washing 


234  Spanish  Life 

a  child's  head  from  the  day  it  is  born.  The  re- 
sult is  really  indescribable.  When  it  is  about  two 
years  old,  a  scab,  which  covers  the  whole  head, 
comes  off  of  its  own  accord,  and  after  that  the 
head  may  be  cleansed  without  fear  of  evil  conse- 
quences. Some  English  servants  who  have  mar- 
ried in  Spain  set  the  example  of  keeping  their 
infants  clean,  and,  therefore,  healthy,  from  the 
first,  and,  seeing  the  difference  in  the  appearance 
of  the  children,  a  few  Spanish  women  have  fol- 
lowed suit;  but  it  requires  a  good  deal  of  courage 
to  break  away  from  old  traditions  and  set  one's 
face  against  the  sacred  superstitions  of  ages — and 
the  mother-in-law! 

One  wonders,  not  that  Spanish  men  grow  bald 
so  early,  and  not  bald  only,  but  absolutely  hair- 
less, but  that  they  ever  have  any  hair  at  all;  for 
after  all  the  troubles  of  their  infancy  their  heads 
are  regularly  shaved,  or  the  hair  cut  off  close  to 
the  skin  all  the  summer.  On  the  principle  of 
cutting  off  the  heads  of  dandelions  as  soon  as  they 
appear,  as  a  way  of  exterminating  them,  the  sur- 
prising thing  is  that  the  hair  does  not  become  too 
much  discouraged  even  to  try  to  sprout  again. 
Funny  little  objects  they  look,  with  only  a  dark 
mark  on  the  skin  where  the  hair  ought  to  grow 
in  summer,  and  at  most  a  growth  about  as  long 
as  velvet  in  the  winter,  until  they  are  quite  big 
boys!  The  girls  generally  wear  their  hair  so 
tightly  plaited,  as  soon  as  it  is  long  enough  to  al- 
low of  plaiting  at  all,  that  they  can  scarcely  close 


Marriage  Customs  235 

their  eyes.  Young  Spanish  women,  however, 
have  magnificent  hair;  though  they,  too,  grow 
bald  when  they  are  old,  in  a  way  that  is  never 
seen  in  England. 


CHAPTER  XV 

MUSIC,   ART,   AND  THE  DRAMA 

ONE  is  apt  to  forget  how  much  the  history  of 
music  owes  to  Spain.  The  country  was 
for  so  long  considered  to  be  in  a  state  of  chronic 
political  disturbance  that  few  foreigners  took  up 
their  abode  there,  except  such  as  had  business 
interests,  and  for  the  rest  the  mere  traveller  never 
became  acquainted  with  the  real  life  of  the  people, 
or  entered  into  their  intellectual  amusements. 
It  is  quite  a  common  thing  to  find  the  tourist 
entering  in  his  valuable  notes  on  a  country  which 
he  has  not  the  knowledge  of  the  world  to  under- 
stand: "  The  Spaniards  are  not  a  musical  people," 
and  remaining  quite  satisfied  with  his  own  dictum. 
Yet  Albert  Soubies,  in  his  Histoire  de  la  Musigue, 
says,  in  the  volume  devoted  to  Spain:  "  Spain  is 
the  country  where,  in  modern  times,  musical  art 
has  been  cultivated  with  the  greatest  distinction 
and  originality.  In  particular,  the  school  of  re- 
ligious music  in  Spain,  thanks  to  Morales,  Guer- 
rero, and  Victoria,  will  bear  comparison  with  all 
that  has  been  produced  elsewhere  of  the  highest 
and  most  cultivated  description.  The  national 

236 


Music,  Art,  and  the  Drama    237 

genius  has  also  shown  itself  in  another  direction, 
in  works  which,  like  the  ancient  eglogas — the  con- 
temporary zarzuelas  of  I^ope  de  Vega  and  Calderon 
— and  the  torradillas  of  the  last  century  shine  bril- 
liantly by  the  verve,  the  gaiety,  the  strength,  and 
delicacy  of  their  comic  sentiment.  .  .  .  The 
works  of  this  class  are  happily  inspired  by  popu- 
lar art,  which  in  this  country  abounds  in  char- 
acteristic elements.  One  notes  how  much  the 
rhythm  and  melody  display  native  colour,  charm, 
and  energy.  In  many  cases,  along  with  vestiges 
of  Basque  or  of  Celtic  origin,  they  show  some- 
thing of  an  Oriental  character,  due  to  the  long 
sojourn  of  the  Moors  in  this  country." 

As  regards  this  pre-eminence,  it  is  enough  to 
remember  that  Spain  was  anciently  one  of  the  re- 
gions most  thoroughly  penetrated  by  Roman 
civilisation.  It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  this 
art  has  never  sunk  into  decadence  in  Spain. 
During  the  sixteenth  century  the  archives  of  the 
Pontifical  chapel  show  the  important  place  occu- 
pied by  Spanish  composers  in  the  musical  history 
of  the  Vatican,  and  among  the  artists  who  gained 
celebrity  away  from  their  own  country  were  Esco- 
ledo,  Morales,  Galvey,  Tapia,  and  many  others. 
To  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century  a  galaxy 
of  brilliant  names  carried  on  the  national  histpry 
of  Spanish  music,  both  on  religious  and  secular 
lines;  and  though  in  the  eighteenth  and  part  of 
the  nineteenth  centuries  there  was  a  passing  in- 
vasion of  French  and  Italian  fashion,  the  true  and 


238  Spanish  Life 

characteristic  native  music  has  never  died  out, 
and  at  the  present  time  there  is  a  notable  musical 
renaissance  in  touch  with  the  spirit  and  natural 
genius  of  the  people. 

A  Royal  Academy  of  Music  has,  within  recent 
times,  been  added  to  the  other  institutions  of  a 
like  kind,  and  native  talent  is  being  developed  on 
native  lines,  not  in  imitations  from  countries 
wholly  differing  from  them  in  national  character- 
istics. Spaniards  are  exacting  critics,  and  the 
best  musicians  of  other  countries  are  as  well 
known  and  appreciated  as  their  own  composers 
and  executants.  Wagner  is  now  a  household 
word  among  them,  where  once  Rossini  was  the 
object  of  fashionable  admiration.  The  national 
and  characteristic  songs  of  Spain  have  been 
already  referred  to.  They  are  perfectly  distinct 
from  those  of  any  other  nation.  There  is  about 
them  a  dainty  grace  and  pathos,  combined  fre- 
quently with  a  certain  suspicion  of  sadness,  which 
is  full  of  charm,  while  those  which  are  frankly 
gay  are  full  of  life,  audacity,  and  "go,"  that 
carry  away  the  listeners,  even  when  the  language 
is  imperfectly  understood.  The  charming  songs, 
with  accompaniment  for  piano  or  guitar,  of  the 
Master  Yradier,  are  mostly  written  in  the  soft 
dialect  of  Andalucia,  which  lends  itself  to  the 
music,  and  is  liquid  as  the  notes  of  a  bird.  The 
songs  of  Galicia  are,  in  fact,  the  songs  of  Portu- 
gal; just  as  the  Galician  language  is  Portuguese, 
or  a  dialect  of  that  language,  which  has  less 


Music,  Art,  and  the  Drama    239 

impress  of  the  ancient  Celt-Iberian  and  more  of 
French  than  its  sister,  Castilian,  both  being  de- 
scendants of  L,atin,  enriched  with  words  borrowed 
from  the  different  nations  which  have  at  one  time 
or  another  inhabited  or  conquered  their  country. 

The  guitar  is,  of  course,  the  national  instru- 
ment, and  the  songs  never  have  the  same  charm 
with  any  other  accompaniment;  but  the  Spanish 
women  of  to-day  are  prouder  of  being  able  to  play 
the  piano  or  violin  than  of  excelling  in  the  instru- 
ment which  suits  them  so  much  better.  The 
Spaniard  is  nervously  anxious  not  to  appear,  or  to 
be,  benind  any  other  European  nation  in  what  we 
call  "  modernity,"  a  word  that  signifies  that  to  be 
"  up-to-date"  is  of  paramount  importance,  leav- 
ing wholly  out  of  the  question  whether  the  change 
be  for  the  better  or  infinitely  towards  the  lower 
end  of  the  scale. 

The  records  of  Spain  in  art,  as  in  literature,  are 
so  grand,  so  European,  in  fact,  that  it  is  much  if 
the  artists  of  to-day  come  within  measurable  dis- 
tance of  those  who  have  made  the  glory  of  their 
country.  Nevertheless,  the  modern  painters  and 
sculptors  of  Spain  hold  their  own  with  those  of 
any  country.  After  the  temporary  eclipse  which 
followed  the  death  of  Velasquez,  Ribera,  and 
Murillo  —  the  eighteenth  century  produced  no 
great  Spanish  painter,  if  we  except  Goya,  who 
left  no  pupils — Don  Jos6  Madrazo,  who  studied  at 
the  same  time  as  Ingres  in  the  studio  of  David, 
began  the  modern  renaissance.  He  became  Court 


240  Spanish  Life 

painter,  and  left  many  fine  portraits;  but,  perhaps, 
as  Comte  Vasili  says,  "  L,a  meilleure  ceuvre  de 
Don  Jose  fut  son  fils,  Federico;  de  me"me  que  la 
meilleure  de  celui-ci  est  son  fils  Raimundo." 

Raimundo  Madrazo  and  Fortuny  the  elder,  who 
married  Cecilia  Madrazo,  Raimundo' s  sister,  have 
always  painted  in  Paris,  and  have  become  known 
to  Europe  almost  as  French  artists.  Fortuny,  by 
his  mariage  Espagnol,  became  the  head  of  the 
Spanish  renaissance.  Unfortunately,  he  has  been 
widely  imitated  by  artists  of  all  nations,  who  have 
not  a  tithe  of  his  genius,  if  any.  Pradilla,  F. 
Domingo,  Gallegos,  the  three  Beulluire  brothers, 
Bilbao,  Gimenez,  Aranda,  Carbonero,  are  only  a 
few  of  the  artists  whose  names  are  known  to  all 
art  collectors,  and  who  work  in  Spain.  Villegas 
has  settled  in  Rome.  The  exhibition  of  modern 
Spanish  paintings  in  the  L,ondon  Guildhall  last 
year  (1901)  was  a  revelation  to  many  English 
people,  even  to  artists,  of  the  work  that  is  being 
done  at  the  present  day  by  Spanish  painters,  both 
at  home  and  in  Paris  and  Rome.  In  sculpture, 
also,  Spain  can  boast  many  artists  of  the  highest 
class. 

The  drama  in  Spain  has  in  all  times  occupied 
an  important  place.  The  traditions  of  the  past 
names,  such  as  Calderon,  L,ope  de  Vega,  Tirso  de 
Molina,  Moreto,  and  others,  cannot  exactly  be 
said  to  be  kept  up,  for  these  are,  most  of  them,  of 
European  fame;  but  in  a  country  where  the  the- 
atre is  the  beloved  entertainment  of  all  classes, 


Music,  Art,  and  the  Drama    241 

and  perhaps  especially  so  of  the  poor  or  the  work- 
ing people,  there  are  never  wanting  dramatists 
who  satisfy  the  needs  of  their  auditors,  and 
whose  works  are  sometimes  translated  into  foreign 
languages,  if  not  actually  acted  on  an  alien  stage. 
It  would  be  impossible  and  useless  to  give  a 
mere  list  of  the  names  of  modern  dramatists,  but 
that  of  Ayala  is  perhaps  best  known  abroad,  and 
his  work  most  nearly  approaches  to  that  of  his 
great  forerunners.  His  Consuelo,  El  tejado  de 
Vidrio,  and  Tanto  por  ciento  show  great  power  and 
extraordinary  observation.  His  style,  too,  is 
perfect.  Senor  Tamago,  who  persistently  hides 
his  name  under  the  pseudonym  of  "Joaquin 
Estebanez,"  may  also  be  ranked  amongst  the 
leaders  of  the  modern  Spanish  drama,  and  his 
Drama  Nuevo  is  a  masterpiece.  Echegaray  be- 
longs to  the  school  of  the  old  drama,  whose  char- 
acteristic is  that  virtue  is  always  rewarded  and 
vice  punished.  His  plays  are  very  popular  be- 
cause they  touch  an  audience  even  to  tears,  and 
he  has  several  followers  or  imitators.  The  come- 
dies of  manners  and  satirical  plays  are  generally 
the  work  of  Eusebio  Blasco,  Ramos  Carrion, 
Echegaray  the  younger,  Estremada,  Alverez, 
though  there  are  others  whose  names  are  legion. 
Echegaray  is  really  a  man  of  genius.  A  clever 
engineer  and  professor  of  mathematics,  he  was 
Minister  of  Finance  during  the  early  days  of  the 
Revolution.  His  first  play  took  the  world  of 
Madrid  by  surprise  and  even  by  storm.  La 

16 


242  Spanish  Life 

Esposa  del  Vengador  had  an  unprecedented  suc- 
cess, and  at  least  thirt}'  subsequent  dramas,  in 
prose  and  in  verse,  have  made  this  mathema- 
tician, engineer,  and  financier  one  of  the  most 
famous  men  of  his  day.  His  art  and  his  methods 
are  purely  Spanish.  I  have  already  referred  to 
the  phenomenal  success  of  Perez  Galdos's  Electro, 
within  the  last  few  months.  It  must,  however, 
be  ascribed  chiefly  to  the  moment  of  its  presenta- 
tion rather  than  to  any  superlative  merit  in  the 
drama.  It  is  well  written,  which  is  what  may  be 
said  of  almost  all  Spanish  plays,  for  the  language 
is  in  itself  so  dignified  and  so  beautiful  that,  if  it 
be  only  pure  and  not  disfigured  by  foreign  slang, 
it  is  always  sonorous  and  charming.  To  the  state 
of  the  popular  temper,  however,  and  the  coinci- 
dence of  the  political  events  already  referred  to 
must  be  ascribed  the  fact  that  a  piece  like  Electro, 
should  cause  the  fall  of  a  Government,  and  bring 
within  dangerous  distance  the  collapse  of  the 
monarchy  itself.  The  excitement  which  it  still 
produces,  wherever  played,  is  now  in  a  great  part 
due  to  the  foolish  action  of  some  of  the  bishops 
and  the  fact  that  individual  clerics  use  their  pul- 
pits to  condemn  it,  and  attempt  to  forbid  its  being 
read  or  seen. 

Spain  is  not  particularly  rich  in  great  actors,  al- 
though she  has  always  a  goodly  number  who  come 
up  to  a  fair  standard  of  excellence.  The  great 
actors  of  the  day  in  Madrid  are  Maria  Guerrero 
and  Fernando  Diaz  de  Mendoza.  They  obtained 


Music,  Art,  and  the  Drama    243 

a  perfect  ovation  during  the  last  season  in  the 
play,  El  loco  Dios,  of  Echegaray — a  work  which 
gives  every  opportunity  for  the  display  of  first- 
class  talent  in  both  actors,  and  which  led  to  a  fury 
of  enthusiasm  for  the  popular  dramatist,  which 
must  have  recalled  to  him  the  early  days  of  his 
great  successes. 

Since  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
Spain  has  had  three  great  Academies,  which,  even 
in  the  troublous  times  of  her  history,  have  done 
good  work  in  the  domains  of  history,  language, 
and  the  fine  arts;  but  it  is  since  the  Revolution 
that  they  have  become  of  real  importance  in  the 
intellectual  development  of  the  nation,  and  other 
societies  have  been  added  for  the  encouragement 
of  scientific  research  and  music.  The  earliest  of 
her  academies  was  that  of  language,  known  as  the 
Royal  Spanish  Academy.  It  is  exactly  on  the 
lines  of  the  Acade"mie  Francaise.  Founded  in 
1713,  its  statutes  were  somewhat  modified  in  1847, 
and  again  in  1859.  There  are  only  thirty-six 
members,  about  eighty  corresponding  members  in 
different  provinces  of  Spain,  and  an  unlimited,  or 
at  least  undetermined,  number  of  foreign  and 
honorary  correspondents.  Besides  the  Central 
Society  in  Madrid,  the  Royal  Spanish  Academy 
has  many  corresponding  branches  in  South 
America,  such  as  the  Columbian,  the  Equatorial, 
the  Mexican,  and  those  of  Venezuela  and  San 
Salvador.  The  existence  of  academies  of  lan- 
guage in  the  South  American  States  does  not 


244  Spanish  Life 

appear  to  effect  much  in  the  way  of  maintaining 
the  purity  of  Castilian  among  them,  for  South 
American  Spanish,  as  spoken  at  least,  is  not  much 
more  like  the  original  language  than  the  South 
American  Spaniard  is  like  the  inhabitant  of  the 
mother  country.  The  dictionary  of  the  Royal 
Academy  of  Spain,  like  that  of  France,  is  not  yet 
completed. 

Philip  V.  founded  the  Royal  Academy  of  His- 
tory in  1738.  Under  its  auspices,  especially  of 
late  years,  much  valuable  work  has  been  done  in 
publishing  the  original  records  of  the  country,  to 
be  found  at  Simancas  and  other  places;  but  the 
authentic  history  of  Spain  is  still  incomplete.  Up 
to  the  time  of  his  assassination,  Don  Antonio  Cd- 
novas  del  Castillo  was  its  director,  and  Don  Pedro 
de  Madrazo  its  permanent  secretary.  The  society, 
now  known  as  the  Real  Academia  de  San  Fer- 
nando, founded  in  1752,  under  the  title  of  Real 
Academia  de  las  tres  nobles  Artes,  has  now  had 
a  fourth  added  to  it — that  of  music.  The  functions 
of  its  separate  sections  are  much  the  same  as  those 
of  the  English  Academy  of  Painting  and  the 
sister  arts.  A  permanent  gallery  of  the  works  of 
its  members  exists  in  Madrid,  and  certificates, 
diplomas,  honourable  mention,  etc.,  are  dis- 
tributed by  the  directors  to  successful  competitors. 

Later  societies  are  the  Academies  of  Exact 
Science,  Physical  and  Natural,  of  Moral  and  Po- 
litical Science,  of  Jurisprudence  and  Legislation, 
and  last,  but  by  no  means  least,  the  Royal  Acad- 


Music,  Art,  and  the  Drama    245 

emy  of  Medicine,  under  whose  auspices  medical 
science  has  of  late  years  made  immense  strides, 
and  is  probably  now  in  line  with  that  of  the  most 
advanced  of  other  countries. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

MODERN 


THE  name  of  Pascual  de  Gayangos  is  known 
far  beyond  the  confines  of  his  own  country 
as  a  scholar,  historian,  philologist,  biographer, 
and  critic.  Although  now  a  man  of  very  ad- 
vanced age,  he  is  one  of  the  most  distinguished  of 
modern  Orientalists,  and  his  History  of  the  Arabs 
in  Spain,  Vocabulary  of  the  Arabic  Words  in 
Spanish,  and  his  Catalogue  of  Spanish  MSS.  in  the 
British  Museum  are  known  wherever  the  language 
is  known  or  studied.  He  has  published  in  Span- 
ish an  edition  of  Ticknor's  great  work  on  Spanish 
literature,  and  has  edited  several  valuable  works 
in  the  Spanish  Old  Text  Society  besides  innumer- 
able other  historical  and  philological  books  and 
papers,  which  have  given  him  a  European  repu- 
tation. His  immense  store  of  knowledge,  his 
modesty,  and  his  genuine  kindness  to  all  who 
seek  his  aid  endear  him  as  much  for  his  personal 
qualities  as  for  his  learning. 

Next  to  Gayangos  in  the  same  class  of  work, 
Marcelino  Menendez  y  Palayo  may  perhaps  be 
mentioned.  His  History  of  Aesthetic  Ideas  in 

246 


Modern  Literature  247 

Spain  has  been  left  unfinished  so  far,  owing  to 
the  demands  made  on  his  time  by  his  position  in 
the  political  world  as  one  of  the  Conservative 
leaders.  Don  Modesto  L,afuente,  though  scarcely 
possessing  the  qualities  of  a  great  historian,  is  ac- 
curate and  painstaking  to  a  great  degree;  but  in 
the  field  of  history  many  workers  are  searching 
the  archives  and  documents  in  which  the  country 
is  so  rich,  and  throwing  light  on  particular  periods. 
Canovas  del  Castillo,  in  spite  of  his  great  political 
duties,  was  one  of  the  most  valuable  of  these ;  and 
the  eminent  jurist,  Don  Francisco  de  Cardenas, 
and  the  learned  Jesuit,  Fidel  Fita,  and  other 
members  of  the  Academy  of  History  are  con- 
stantly working  in  the  rich  mine  at  Simancas. 
New  papers  and  books  are  continually  being 
brought  out  under  the  auspices  of  this  society, 
throwing  light  on  the  past  history  of  the  country. 
Fernan  Caballero,  a  German  by  race,  but  mar- 
ried successively  to  three  Spanish  husbands,  may 
be  said  to  have  inaugurated  the  modern  Spanish 
novel  de  costumbres,  and  her  books  are  perhaps 
better  known  in  England  than  those  of  some  of 
the  later  novelists.  By  far  the  greater  writer  of 
the  day  in  Spain,  however,  in  light  literature,  is 
Juan  Valera,  at  once  poet,  critic,  essayist,  and  nov- 
elist. His  Pepila  Jimenez  is  a  remarkable  novel, 
full  of  delicate  characterisation  and  exquisite 
style,  second  to  none  produced  in  any  country — a 
novel  full  of  fire,  and  yet  irreproachable  in  taste, 
handling  a  difficult  subject  with  the  mastery  of 


248  Spanish  Life 

genius.  It  has  been  translated  into  English;  but 
however  well  it  may  have  been  done,  it  must  lose 
immensely  in  the  transition,  because  the  Spanish 
of  Valera  is  the  perfection  of  a  perfectly  beautiful 
language.  In  this  novel  we  have  the  character 
of  a  priest,  who,  while  we  know  him  only  through 
the  letters  addressed  to  him  by  the  young  student 
of  theology,  the  extremely  sympathetic  hero  of 
the  story,  lives  in  one's  memory,  showing  us  the 
best  side  of  the  Spanish  priest.  Other  novels  of 
Valera' s,  Dona  Luis  and  El  Comendador  Mendoza, 
a  number  of  essays  on  all  sorts  of  subjects,  critical 
and  other,  and  poems  which  show  great  grace 
and  correctness  of  style,  have  given  this  writer 
a  high  place  in  the  literature  of  the  age. 

Perez  Galdos  is  a  writer  of  a  wholly  different 
class,  although  he  enjoys  a  very  wide  reputation 
in  his  own  country  and  wherever  Spanish  is  read. 
His  Episodes  Nacionales,  some  fifty-six  in  number, 
attract  by  their  close  attention  to  detail,  which 
gives  an  air  of  actuality  to  the  most  diffuse  of 
his  stories.  They  are  careful  and  very  accurate 
studies  of  different  episodes  of  national  life,  in 
which  the  author  introduces,  among  the  fictitious 
characters  round  whom  the  story  moves,  the  real 
actors  on  the  stage  of  history  of  the  time.  Thus 
Mendizabal,  Espartero,  Serrano,  Narvaez,  the 
Queen  of  Ferdinand  VII.,  Cristina,  and  many 
other  persons  appear  in  the  books,  giving  one  the 
impression  that  history  is  alive,  and  not  the  record 
of  long-dead  actors  we  are  accustomed  to  find  it. 


Modern  Literature  249 

Gald6s  appears  to  despise  any  kind  of  plot;  the 
events  run  on,  as  they  did  in  fact  run  on,  only 
there  are  one  or  two  people  who  take  part  in  them 
whom  we  may  suppose  to  be  creations  of  the 
author's  brain.  Certainly,  one  learns  more  con- 
temporary history  by  reading  these  Episodes  of 
Perez  Gald6s,  and  realises  all  the  scenes  of  it 
much  more  vividly  than  one  would  ever  do  by  the 
reading  of  ordinary  records  of  events.  As  the 
tendency  and  the  sympathy  of  the  writer  is  always 
Liberal,  one  fancies  that  Galdos  has  written  with 
the  determined  intention  to  tempt  a  class  of 
readers  to  become  acquainted  with  the  recent 
history  of  their  country  who  would  never  do  so 
under  any  less  attractive  form  than  that  of  the 
novel.  His  works  must  do  good,  since  they  are 
very  widely  read,  and  are  extremely  accurate  as 
history.  His  play,  Eledra,  which  is  just  now 
giving  him  such  wide  celebrity,  is  of  the  actual 
time,  and  the  scene  is  laid  wholly  in  Madrid. 
The  freedom  that  he  advocates  for  women  is 
merely  that  which  Englishwomen  have  always 
enjoyed,  or,  at  least,  since  mediaeval  times,  and 
has  nothing  in  common  with  the  emancipation 
which  our  "  new  women"  claim  for  themselves. 
Gald6s,  also,  is  fond  of  introducing  the  simple- 
minded  and  honest,  if  not  very  cultivated,  priest. 
His  style  is  pure,  without  any  great  pretention 
to  brilliancy,  or  any  of  the  straining  after  effect 
which  so  many  of  the  English  writers  seem  to 
think  gives  distinction. 


250  Spanish  Life 

Pedro  Alarcon  is  novelist  first,  and  historian, 
poet,  and  critic  afterwards.  That  is  to  say,  his 
novels  are  his  best-known  and  most  widely  read 
works.  He  has  two  distinct  styles.  His  Sombrero 
de  Tres  Picas  is  a  fascinating  sketch  of  quaint  old 
village  life,  full  of  quiet  grace,  while  El  Escdndalo 
and  La  Prodiga  are  of  the  sensational  order.  He 
writes,  like  Galdos,  in  series,  such  as  Historietas 
Nacionales,  Narraciones  Inverosimiles,  and  Viajes 
por  Espana.  Parada  is  a  native  of  Santander, 
and  writes  of  his  beloved  countrymen.  Sotilezas, 
his  best-known,  and  perhaps  best,  novel,  treats  of 
life  among  the  fisher-folk  of  Santander,  before  it 
became  an  industrial  town.  Writing  in  dialect 
makes  many  of  his  stories  puzzling,  if  not  impossi- 
ble for  foreign  readers. 

The  lady  who  writes  under  the  pseudonym  of 
"  Emelia  Pardo  Bazan  "  may  be  said  to  be  the 
leader  or  the  pioneer  of  women's  emancipation  in 
the  sense  in  which  we  use  the  words.  She  is  a  nat- 
ive of  Galicia,and  is  imbued  with  that  intense  love 
of  her  native  province  which  distinguishes  the 
people  of  the  mountains.  Her  novels  are  chiefly 
pictures  of  its  scenery  and  the  life  of  its  people, 
though  in  at  least  one  she  does  not  hesitate  to 
take  her  readers  behind  the  scenes  of  student  life 
in  Madrid.  It  would  not  be  fair  to  apply  to  this 
writer's  work  the  standard  by  which  we  judge  an 
English  work,  because  in  Spain  there  is  a  frank- 
ness, to  call  it  by  no  other  name,  in  discussing  in 
mixed  company  subjects  which  it  would  not  be 


Modern  Literature  251 

thought  good  taste  to  mention  under  the  same 
circumstances  with  us.  Una  Cristiana  and  La 
Prueba,  its  sequel,  are  founded  on  the  sex  problem, 
and,  probably  without  any  intention  of  offence, 
Pardo  Bazan  has  worked  with  a  very  full  brush 
and  a  free  hand,  if  I  may  borrow  the  terms  from 
a  sister  art.  Her  articles  on  intellectual  and 
social  question^  show  an  amount  of  education  and 
a  breadth  of  view  which  place  her  among  the  best 
writers  of  her  nation.  She  is  not  in  the  least 
blinded  by  her  patriotism  to  the  faults  of  her 
country,  especially  to  the  hitherto  narrow  educa- 
tion of  its  women.  She  holds  up  an  ideal  of  a 
higher  type — a  woman  who  shall  be  man's  intel- 
lectual companion,  and  his  helper  in  the  battle  of 
life.  She  is  by  no  means  the  only  woman  writer 
in  Spain  at  the  present  time;  but  she  is  the  most 
talented,  and  occupies  certainly  the  highest  place. 
Her  writings  are  somewhat  difficult  for  anyone 
not  conversant  with  Portuguese,  or,  rather,  with 
the  Galician  variety  of  the  Spanish  language,  for 
the  number  of  words  not  to  be  found  in  the  Spanish 
dictionary  interfere  with  the  pleasure  experienced 
by  a  foreigner,  and  even  some  Castilians,  in  read- 
ing her  novels.  Pardo  Bazan  was  an  enthusiastic 
friend  and  admirer  of  Castelar,  and  belongs  to  his 
political  party.  A  united  Iberian  republic,  with 
Gibraltar  restored  to  Spain,  is,  or  was,  its  pro- 
gramme. 

Hermana  San  Sulpicio,  by  Armando  Palacio 
Valde's,  is  one  of  the  charming,  purely  Spanish 


252  Spanish  Life 

novels  which  has  made  a  name  for  its  author  be- 
yond the  confines  of  his  own  country;  but  since 
that  was  produced  he  has  gone  for  his  inspiration 
to  the  French  naturalistic  school,  and,  like  some 
English  writers,  he  thinks  that  repulsive  and  in- 
decent incidents,  powerfully  drawn,  add  to  the 
artistic  value  of  his  work.  Padre  Luis  Coloma,  a 
Jesuit,  obtained  a  good  deal  of  attention  at  one 
time  by  his  Pequeneces,  studies,  written  in  gall,  of 
Madrid  society.  His  stories  are  too  narrowly 
bigoted  in  tone  to  have  any  lasting  vogue,  and 
his  views  of  life  too  much  coloured  by  his  ultra- 
montane tendencies  to  be  even  true.  Nunez  de 
Arce  is,  like  so  many  Spaniards  of  the  last  few 
decades,  at  once  a  poet  and  a  politician.  He 
played  a  stirring  part  from  the  time  of  the  Revol- 
ution to  the  Restoration,  always  on  the  side  of 
liberty,  but  never  believing  in  the  idea  of  a  re- 
public. His  Gritos  del  Combate  were  the  agonised 
expression  of  a  fighter  in  his  country's  battle  for 
freedom  and  for  light.  Since  the  more  settled 
state  of  affairs,  Nunez  de  Arce  has  written  many 
charming  idyls  and  short  poems.  In  the  Idilio  is 
a  wonderful  picture  of  the,  to  some  of  us,  barren 
scenery  of  Castile,  in  which  the  eye  of  the  artist 
sees,  and  makes  his  readers  see,  a  beauty  all  the 
more  striking  because  it  is  hidden  from  the  ordin- 
ary gaze. 

Of  Jose"  Zorilla  as  a  poet  there  is  little  need 
to  speak.  His  countrymen  read  his  voluminous 
works,  but  they  are  not  of  any  real  value.  Cam- 


Modern  Literature  253 

poamor  describes  his  Dorloras  as  ' '  poetic  composi- 
tions combining  lightness,  sentiment,  and  brevity 
with  philosoph ic  importance. "  His  earlier  works 
were  studied  from  Shakespeare  and  from  Byron, 
who  was  the  star  of  the  age  when  Campoamor 
began  to  write.  His  most  ambitious  work,  the 
Universal  Drama,  is  "  after  Dante  and  Milton." 
He  is  a  great  favourite  with  his  fellow-country- 
men, both  as  poet  and  companion.  He  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Academy  and  a  Senator. 

It  is  impossible,  however,  to  do  more  than  indi- 
cate a  few  of  the  writers  who  are  leaders  in  the 
literature  of  Spain  to-day.  There  has,  in  fact, 
been  an  immense  impulse  in  the  production  of 
books  of  all  classes  within  the  last  twenty  or 
thirty  years.  In  fiction,  Spain  once  more  aspires 
to  have  a  characteristic  literature  of  her  own,  in 
place  of  relying  on  translations  from  the  French, 
as  was  the  case  for  a  brief  time  before  her  political 
renaissance  began. 

A  notable  departure  has  been  the  foundation 
of  the  Folklore  Society,  and  the  publication  up  to 
the  present  time  of  eleven  volumes  under  the  name 
of  Biblioteca  de  las  Tradiciones  Populares  Espanolas, 
under  the  direction  of  Senor  Don  Antonio  Ma- 
chado  y  Alvarez.  In  the  introduction  to  the  first 
volume,  the  Director  tells  us  that,  with  the  help 
of  the  editor  of  El  Folklore  Andaluz  and  his 
friends,  D.  Alejandro  Guichot  y  Sierra  and  D. 
lyuis  Montolo  y  Raustentrauch,  he  has  under- 
taken this  great  work,  which  arose  out  of  the 


254  Spanish  Life 

Bases  del  Folklore  Espanol,  published  in  1881,  and 
the  two  societies  established  in  1882,  the  Folk- 
lore Andaluz  and  Folklore  Extremeno.  These 
societies  have  for  object  the  gathering  together, 
copying,  and  publishing  of  the  popular  beliefs, 
proverbs,  songs,  stories,  poems,  the  old  customs 
and  superstitions  of  all  parts  of  the  Peninsula,  in- 
cluding Portugal,  as  indispensable  materials  for 
the  knowledge  and  scientific  reconstruction  of 
Spanish  culture.  In  this  patriotic  and  historical 
work  many  writers  have  joined,  each  bringing 
his  quota  of  garnered  treasure- trove,  presenting 
thus,  in  a  series  of  handy  little  volumes,  a  most 
interesting  collection  of  the  ancient  customs,  be- 
liefs, and,  in  fact,  the  folklore  of  a  country  ex- 
ceptionally rich  in  widely  differing  nationalities. 

Many  of  the  tales,  which  it  would  seem  even 
at  the  present  time,  especially  in  Portugal  and 
Galicia,  are  told  in  the  evening,  and  have  rarely 
found  their  way  into  print,  have  the  strong  stamp 
of  the  legitimate  Eastern  fable,  and  bear  a  great 
family  resemblance  to  those  of  the  Arabian  Nights. 
As,  in  fact,  the  Thousand  and  One  Nights  was 
very  early  published  in  Spanish,  it  is  probable 
that  its  marvellous  histories  were  known  verbally 
to  the  people  of  the  Iberian  continent  for  many 
centuries,  and  have  coloured  much  of  its  folklore. 
The  Ingenious  Student  is  certainly  one  of  these. 
Barbers  also  play  an  important  part  in  many  of 
these  tales.  It  is  quite  common  for  the  Court 
barber  to  marry  the  King's  daughter,  and  to 


Modern  Literature  255 

succeed  him  as  ruler;  but  the  barber  was,  of  course, 
surgeon  or  blood-letter  as  well  as  the  principal 
news-agent — the  forerunner  of  the  daily  newspaper 
of  our  times.  The  transmutation  of  human  be- 
ings into  mules,  and  vice  versa,  is  a  common  fable, 
and  we  meet  with  wolf-children  and  the  curious 
superstition  that  unbaptised  people  can  penetrate 
into  the  domains  of  the  enchanted  Moors,  and 
that  these  have  no  power  to  injure  them.  The 
story  of  the  Black  Slave,  who  eventually  married 
the  King's  daughter  and  had  a  white  mule  for 
his  Prime  Minister,  is  very  Eastern  in  character. 
"  From  so  wise  a  King  and  so  good  a  Queen  the 
people  derived  great  benefit;  disputes  never  went 
beyond  the  ears  of  the  Chief  Minister,  and,  in  the 
words  of  the  immortal  barber  and  poet  of  the  city, 
'  the  kingdom  flourished  under  the  guidance  of  a 
mule:  which  proves  that  there  are  qualities  in  the 
irrational  beings  which  even  wisest  ministers 
would  do  well  to  imitate. '  '  The  Watchful  Ser- 
vant is,  however,  purely  Spanish  in  character,  and 
it  closes  with  the  proverb  that  "a  jealous  man  on 
horseback  is  first  cousin  to  a  flash  of  lightning." 
King  Robin,  the  story  of  how  the  beasts  and  birds 
revenged  themselves  on  Sigli  and  his  father,  the 
chief  of  a  band  of  robbers,  recalls  "  Uncle  Remus  " 
and  his  animal  tales;  for  the  monkeys,  at  the 
suggestion  of  the  fox,  and  with  the  delighted 
consent  of  the  birds  and  the  bees,  made  a  figure 
wholly  of  birdlime  to  represent  a  sleeping  beggar, 
being  quite  certain  that  Sigli  would  kick  it  the 


256  Spanish  Life 

moment  that  he  saw  the  intruder  from  the  win- 
dows of  his  father's  castle.  In  effect  both  father 
and  son  became  fast  to  the  birdlime  figure,  when 
they  were  stung  to  death  by  ten  thousand  bees. 
Then  King  Robin  ordered  the  wolves  to  dig  the 
grave,  into  which  the  monkeys  rolled  the  man 
and  the  boy  and  the  birdlime  figure,  and,  after 
covering  it  up,  all  the  beasts  and  birds  and  insects 
took  possession  of  the  robbers'  castle,  and  lived 
there  under  the  beneficent  rule  of  King  Robin. 

Silver  Bells  is,  again,  a  story  of  a  wholly  different 
type,  and  charmingly  pretty  it  is,  with  its  new 
development  of  the  wicked  step-mother — in  this 
case  a  mother  who  had  married  again  and  hated 
her  little  girl  by  the  first  husband.  Elvira,  the 
Sainted  Princess,  tells  how  the  daughter  of  King 
Wamba,  who  had  become  a  Christian  unknown 
to  her  father,  by  her  prayers  and  tears  caused  his 
staff  to  blossom  in  one  night,  after  he  had  deter- 
mined that  unless  this  miracle  were  worked  by 
the  God  of  the  Christians  she  and  her  lover  should 
be  burned. 

One  fault  is  to  be  found  with  these  old  stories 
as  remembered  and  told  by  Mr.  Sellers;  that  is, 
the  introduction  of  modern  ideas  into  the  Old- 
World  fables  of  a  primitive  race.  Hits  at  the 
Jesuits,  the  Inquisition,  and  the  government  of 
recent  kings  take  away  much  of  the  glamour  of 
what  is  undoubtedly  folklore.  The  story  of  the 
Black  Hand  seems  to  have  many  varieties.  It  is 
somewhat  like  our  stories  of  Jack  and  the  Bean 


Modern  Literature  257 

Stalk  and  Bluebeard,  but  differs,  to  the  advantage 
of  the  Spanish  ideal,  in  that  the  enchanted  prince 
who  is  forced  to  play  the  part  of  the  terrible  Blue- 
beard during  the  day  voluntarily  enters  upon  a 
second  term  of  a  hundred  years'  enchantment,  so 
as  to  free  the  wife  whom  he  loves,  and  who  goes 
off  safely  with  her  two  sisters  and  numerous  other 
decapitated  beauties,  restored  to  life  by  the  self- 
immolation  of  the  prince.  The  White  Dove,  is 
another  curious  and  pretty  fable  which  has  many 
variations  in  different  provinces — a  story  in  which 
the  King's  promise  cannot  be  broken,  though  it 
ties  him  to  the  hateful  negress  who  has  trans- 
formed his  promised  wife  into  a  dove,  and  has 
usurped  her  place.  Eventually,  of  course,  the 
pet  dove  changes  into  a  lovely  girl  again,  when 
the  King  finds  and  draws  out  the  pins  which  the 
negress  has  stuck  into  her  head,  and  the  usurper 
is  ' '  burnt ' '  as  punishment  —  an  ending  which 
savours  of  the  Quemadero. 

The  making  of  folklore  is  not,  however,  extinct 
in  Spain,  a  country  where  poetry  seems  to  be  an 
inherent  faculty.  One  is  constantly  reminded  of 
the  Spanish  proverb,  De  poetas  y  de  locos,  todos 
tenSmos  un  poco  (We  have  each  of  us  somewhat  of 
the  poet  and  somewhat  of  the  fool).  No  one  can 
tell  whence  the  rhymed  jeux  d' esprit  come;  they 
seem  to  spring  spontaneously  from  the  heart  and 
lips  of  the  people.  Children  are  constantly  heard 
singing  coplas  which  are  evidently  of  recent  pro- 
duction, since  they  speak  of  recent  events,  and 
17 


258  Spanish  Life 

yet  which  have  the  air  of  old  folklore  ballads,  of 
concentrated  bits  of  history. 

Rey  inocente — a  weak  king, 
Reina  traidora — treacherous  queen, 
Pueblo  cobarde — a  coward  people, 
Grandes  sin  honra — nobles  without  honour, 

sums  up  and  expresses  in  nine  words  the  history 
of  Goday's  shameful  bargain  with  Napoleon. 

En  el  Puente  de  Alcole"a 

La  batalla  gano  Prim, 
Y  por  eso  la  cantdmos 

En  las  calles  de  Madrid. 

At  the  bridge  of  Alcole"a 
A  great  battle  gained  Prim, 

And  for  this  we  go  a-singing 
In  the  streets  of  Madrid. 

Senor  Don  Eugenic  de  Olavarria-y  Huarte,  in 
citing  this  copla  (Folklore  de  Madrid},  points  out 
that  it  contains  the  very  essence  of  folklore,  since 
it  gives  a  perfectly  true  account  of  the  battle  of 
Alcolea.  Although  Prim  was  not  present,  he  was 
the  liberator,  and  without  him  the  battle  would 
never  have  been  fought,  nor  the  joy  of  liberty 
have  been  sung  in  the  streets  of  the  capital. 
There  is  seldom,  if  ever,  any  grossness  in  these 
spontaneous  songs  of  the  people — never  indecency 
or  double  meaning.  No  sooner  has  an  event 
happened  than  it  finds  its  history  recorded  in 


Modern  Literature  259 

some  of  these  popular  coplas,  and  sung  by  the 
children  at  their  play. 

The  Folklore  Society  has  some  interesting  in- 
formation to  give  about  the  innumerable  rhymed 
games  which  Spanish  children,  like  our  own,  are 
so  fond  of  playing,  many  of  them  having  an  origin 
lost  in  prehistoric  times.  One  finds,  also,  from 
some  of  the  old  stories,  that  the  devils  are  much 
hurt  in  their  feelings  by  having  tails  and  horns 
ascribed  to  them.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  they  have 
neither,  and  cannot  understand  where  mortals 
picked  up  the  idea!  The  question  is  an  interest- 
ing one.  Where  did  we  obtain  this  notion  ? 


CHAPTER  XVII 

THE  FUTURE  OF  SPAIN 

AN  Englishman  who,  from  over  thirty  years' 
residence  in  Spain  and  close  connection  with 
the  country,  numbered  among  her  people  some 
of  his  most  valued  friends,  thus  speaks  of  the 
national  characteristics: 

' '  The  Spanish  and  English  characters  are,  in- 
deed, in  many  points  strangely  alike.  Spain 
ranks  as  one  of  the  Latin  nations,  and  the  Repub- 
lican orators  of  Spain  are  content  to  look  to  France 
for  light  and  leading  in  all  their  political  combin- 
ations; but  a  large  mass  of  the  nation,  the  bone 
and  sinew  of  the  country,  the  silent,  toiling  tillers 
of  the  soil,  are  not  of  this  way  of  thinking.  .  .  . 
There  is  a  sturdy  independence  in  the  Spanish 
character,  and  an  impatience  of  dictation  that 
harmonises  more  nearly  with  the  English  char- 
acter than  with  that  of  her  Latin  neighbours. 
.  .  .  There  is  a  gravity  and  reticence  also  in 
the  Spaniard  that  is  absent  from  his  mercurial 
neighbour,  and  which  is,  indeed,  much  more 
akin  to  our  cast  of  temper. 

"  True  it  is  that  our  insular  manners  form  at 

260 


The  Future  of  Spain         261 

first  a  bar  to  our  intercourse  with  the  Spaniard, 
who  has  been  brought  up  in  a  school  of  deliberate 
and  stately  courtesy  somewhat  foreign  to  our 
business  turn  of  mind;  but  how  superficial  this 
difference  is  may  be  seen  by  the  strong  attach- 
ment Englishmen  form  to  the  country  and  her 
people,  when  once  the  strangeness  of  first  ac- 
quaintance has  worn  off;  and  those  of  us  who 
know  the  country  best  will  tell  you  that  they 
have  no  truer  or  more  faithful  friends  than  those 
they  have  amongst  her  people." 

Speaking  of  her  labouring  classes,  and  as  a 
very  large  employer  of  labour  in  every  part  of 
the  Peninsula  he  had  the  best  possible  means  of 
judging,  this  writer  says: 

"The  Spanish  working  man  is  really  a  most 
sober,  hard-working  being,  not  much  given  to 
dancing,  and  not  at  all  to  drinking.  They  are 
exceptionally  clever  and  sharp,  and  learn  any 
new  trade  with  great  facility.  They  are,  as  a 
rule,  exceedingly  honest — perfect  gentlemen  in 
their  manners,  and  the  lowest  labourer  has  an 
aplomb  and  ease  of  manner  which  many  a  person 
in  a  much  higher  rank  in  this  country  might 
envy.  When  in  masses  they  are  the  quietest  and 
most  tractable  workmen  it  is  possible  to  have  to 
deal  with.  The  peasant  and  working  man,  the 
real  bone  and  sinew  of  the  country,  are  as  fine  a 
race  as  one  might  wish  to  meet  with — not  free 
from  defects — what  race  is  ? — but  possessed  of 
excellent  sterling  qualities,  which  only  require 


262  Spanish  Life 

knowing  to  be  appreciated.  I  cannot  say  as 
much  for  the  Government  employees  and  poli- 
ticians. Connection  with  politics  seems  to  have 
a  corrupt  and  debasing  effect,  which,  although 
perhaps  exaggerated  in  Spain,  is,  unfortunately, 
not  by  any  means  confined  to  that  country 
only."  ' 

In  Spain  to-day  everything  is  dated  from  "  L,a 
Gloriosa,"  the  Revolution  of  1868,  the  "  Day  of 
Spanish  Liberty,"  as  it  well  deserves  to  be  called, 
and  there  is  every  reason  to  look  back  with  pride 
upon  that  time;  because,  after  the  battle  of  Al- 
col£a,  when  the  cry  raised  in  the  Puerta  del  Sol, 
Viva  Prim  !  was  answered  by  the  troops  shut  up 
in  the  Government  offices,  and  the  people,  swarm- 
ing up  the  re/as  and  the  balconies,  fraternised 
with  their  brothers-in-arms,  who  had  been  in- 
tended, could  they  have  been  trusted  by  their 
commanders,  to  shoot  them  down,  Madrid  was 
for  some  days  wholly  in  the  hands  of  King 
Mob,  and  of  King  Mob  armed.  The  victorious 
troops  were  still  at  some  distance,  the  Queen  and 
her  camarilla  had  fled  across  the  frontier,  the  Gov- 
ernment had  vanished,  and  the  people  were  a  law 
unto  themselves.  Yet  not  one  single  act  of  vio- 
lence was  committed;  absolute  peace  and  quiet- 
ness, and  perfect  order  prevailed.  The  ragged 
men  in  the  street  formed  themselves  into  guards: 
just  as  they  were,  they  took  up  their  positions  at 

1  Commercial  and  Industrial  Spain,  by  George  Higgin, 
Mem.  Inst.  C.  E.,  London,  1886. 


The  Future  of  Spain         263 

the  abandoned  Palace,  at  the  national  buildings 
and  institutions;  the  troops  were  drawn  up  out- 
side Madrid  and  its  people  were  its  guardians. 
Committees  of  emergency  were  formed;  every- 
thing went  on  as  if  nothing  unusual  had  happened, 
and  not  a  single  thing  was  touched  or  destroyed 
in  the  Palace,  left  wholly  at  the  mercy  of  the  sov- 
ereign people.  The  excesses  which  took  place  in 
some  of  the  towns,  after  the  brutal  assassination 
of  Prim  and  the  abdication  of  Amadeo,  were  rather 
the  result  of  political  intrigue  and  the  working  of 
interested  demagogues  on  the  passions  of  people 
misled  and  used  as  puppets. 

With  the  advance  of  commerce  and  industry, 
and  the  massing  of  workers  in  the  towns,  has 
come,  as  in  other  countries,  the  harvest  of  the  dem- 
agogue. Strikes  and  labour  riots  now  and  then 
break  out,  and  the  Spanish  anarchist  is  not  un- 
known. But  the  investment  of  their  money  in 
industrial  and  commercial  enterprises,  so  largely 
increasing,  is  giving  the  people  the  best  possible 
interest  in  avoiding  disturbances  of  this,  or  of  any 
other,  kind:  and  as  knowledge  of  more  enlight- 
ened finance  is  penetrating  to  the  working  people 
themselves,  the  number  who  are  likely  to  range 
themselves  on  the  side  of  law  and  order  is  daily 
increasing.  The  improved  railway  and  steamer 
communication  with  parts  of  the  country  hereto- 
fore isolated,  much  of  it  only  completed  since  this 
book  was  begun  —  in  fact,  within  the  last  few 
months — is  bringing  the  northern  and  western 


264  Spanish  Life 

ports  into  prominence.  Galicia  now  not  only  has 
an  important  industry  in  supplying  fresh  fish  for 
Madrid,  but  has  a  good  increasing  trade  with 
Europe  and  America.  Pontevedra  and  Vigo,  as 
well  as  Villagarcia,  are  improving  daily  since  the 
railway  reached  them.  Fresh  fruit  and  vegetables 
find  a  ready  market,  and  new  uses  for  materials 
are  coming  daily  to  the  front.  Esparto,  the 
coarse  grass  which  grows  almost  everywhere  in 
Spain,  has  long  been  an  article  of  commerce,  as 
well  as  the  algaroba  bean — said  to  be  the  locust 
bean,  on  which  John  the  Baptist  might  have 
thriven — for  it  is  the  most  fattening  food  for 
horses  and  cattle,  and  produces  in  them  a  singu- 
larly glossy  and  beautiful  coat.  This  bean,  which 
is  as  sweet  as  a  dried  date,  is  given,  husk  and  all, 
to  the  mules  and  horses  at  all  the  little  wayside 
ventas,  and  is  now  used  in  some  of  the  patent 
foods  for  cattle  widely  known  abroad.  The  stalk 
of  the  maize  is  used  for  making  smokeless 
powder,  and  the  husks  for  two  kinds  of  glucose, 
two  of  cotton,  three  of  gum,  and  two  of  oil.  Glucea 
dextrina  paste  is  used  as  a  substitute  for  india- 
rubber.  These  products  of  the  maize,  other  than 
its  grain,  are  employed  in  the  preparation  of  pre- 
serves, syrup,  beer,  jams,  sweets,  and  drugs,  and 
in  the  manufacture  of  paper,  cardboard,  mucilage, 
oils  and  lubricants,  paints,  and  many  other  things. 
The  imitation  india-rubber  promises  to  be  the 
basis  of  a  most  important  industry.  Mixed  with 
equal  portions  of  natural  gum,  it  has  all  the  quali- 


The  Future  of  Spain         265 

ties  of  india-rubber,  and  is  twenty-four  per  cent, 
less  in  cost. 

A  great  deal  has  been  said  about  the  deprecia- 
tion of  the  value  of  the  peseta  (franc)  since  the 
outbreak  of  the  war  with  America,  but  this  un- 
satisfactory state  of  affairs  is  gradually  mending; 
and  the  attention  of  the  Government  is  thoroughly 
awakened  to  it.  The  law  of  May  17,  1898,  and 
the  Royal  decree  of  August  9  provide  that  if  the 
notes  in  circulation  of  the  Bank  of  Spain  exceed 
fifteen  hundred  millions,  gold  must  be  guaranteed 
to  the  half  of  the  excess  of  circulation  between 
fifteen  hundred  and  two  thousand,  not  the  half  of 
all  the  notes  in  circulation.  The  metal  guarantee, 
silver  and  gold,  must  cover  half  of  the  note  circu- 
lation, when  the  latter  is  between  fifteen  hundred 
and  two  thousand  millions,  and  two-thirds  when 
the  circulation  exceeds  two  thousand.  But  the 
Bank  has  not  kept  this  precept,  and  there  has,  in 
fact,  been  an  illegal  issue  of  notes  to  the  value  of 
6,752,813  pesetas.  So  states  the  Boletin  de  la 
Cdmara  de  Comerdo  de  Espana  en  la  Gran  Bretdna 
of  April  15,  1901. 

The  Boletin,  after  giving  an  account  of  the 
English  custom  of  using  cheques  against  banking 
accounts,  instead  of  dealing  in  metal  or  paper 
currency  only,  as  in  Spain,  strongly  advocates  the 
establishment  of  the  English -method.  It  is  only 
in  quite  recent  years  that  there  has  been  any 
paper  currency  at  all  in  Spain;  the  very  notes  of 
the  Bank  of  Spain  were  not  current  outside  the 


266  Spanish  Life 

walls  of  Madrid,  and  had  only  a  limited  currency 
within. 

Barcelona  has  long  been  called  the  Manchester 
of  Spain,  and  in  the  days  before  the  "  Gloriosa" 
it  presented  a  great  contrast  to  all  the  other  towns 
in  the  Peninsula.  Its  flourishing  factories,  its 
shipping,  its  general  air  of  a  prosperous  business- 
centre  was  unique  in  Spain.  This  is  no  longer 
the  case.  Although  the  capital  of  Cataluna  has 
made  enormous  strides,  and  would  scarcely  now 
be  recognised  by  those  who  knew  it  before  the 
Revolution,  it  has  many  rivals.  Bilbao  is  already 
ahead  of  it  in  some  respects,  and  other  ports,  al- 
ready mentioned,  are  running  it  very  close.  Still, 
Barcelona  is  a  beautiful  city;  its  situation,  its 
climate,  its  charming  suburbs  full  of  delightful 
country  houses,  its  wealth  of  flowers,  and  its  air 
of  bustling  industry,  give  a  wholly  different  idea 
of  Spain  to  that  so  often  carried  away  by  visitors 
to  the  dead  and  dying  cities  of  which  Spain  has, 
unfortunately,  too  many. 

It  is  becoming  more  common  for  young  Span- 
iards to  come  to  England  to  finish  their  educa- 
tion, or  to  acquire  business  habits,  and  the  study 
of  the  English  language  is  daily  becoming  more 
usual.  In  Spain,  as  already  remarked,  no  one 
speaks  of  the  language  of  the  country  as  "  Span- 
ish"; it  is  always"  Castellano,"  of  which  neither 
Valencian,  Catalan,  Galician,  still  less  Basque, 
is  a  dialect — they  are  all  more  or  less  languages 
in  themselves.  But  Castellano  is  spoken  with  a 


The  Future  of  Spain         267 

difference  both  by  the  pueblo  bajo  of  Madrid  and 
also  in  the  provinces.  The  principal  peculiarities 
are  the  omission  of  the  d—prado  becomes  prao — 
in  any  case  the  pronunciation  of  d,  except  as  an 
initial,  is  very  soft,  similar  to  our  th  in  thee,  but 
less  accentuated.  The  final  d  is  also  omitted  by 
illiterate  speakers;  Usted  is  pronounced  Uste,  and 
even  de  becomes  e.  B  and  v  are  interchangeable. 
One  used  to  see,  on  the  one-horsed  omnibus 
which  in  old  times  represented  the  locomotion  of 
Madrid,  Serbido  de  omnibus  quite  as  often  as  Ser- 
virio.  Over  the  venta  of  El  Espirito  Santo  on  the 
road  to  Alcala — now  an  outskirt  of  Madrid — was 
written,  Aqui  se  veve  bino  y  aguaardiente — mean- 
ing, Aqui  se  bebe  vino,  etc.  (Here  may  be  drunk 
wine). 

The  two  letters  are,  in  fact,  almost  interchange- 
able in  sound,  but  the  educated  Spaniard  never, 
of  course,  makes  the  illiterate  mistake  of  transpos- 
ing them  in  writing.  The  sound  of  b  is  much 
more  liquid  than  in  English,  and  to  pronounce 
Barcelona  as  a  Castilian  pronounces  it,  we  should 
spell  it  Varcelona  ;  the  same  with  C6rdoba,  which 
to  our  ears  sounds  as  if  written  Cdrdova;  and  so, 
in  fact,  we  English  spell  it. 

Spaniards,  as  a  rule,  speak  English  with  an 
excellent  accent,  having  all  the  sounds  that  the 
English  possess,  taking  the  three  kingdoms,  Eng- 
land, Scotland,  and  Ireland,  into  account. 

Our  th,  which  is  unpronounceable  to  French, 
Italians,  and  Germans,  however  long  they  may 


268  Spanish  Life 

have  lived  in  England,  comes  naturally  to  the 
Spaniard,  because  in  his  own  d,  soft  c,  and  z  he 
has  the  sounds  of  our  th  in  "  /Aee  "  and  "  /Ain." 
His  ch  is  identical  with  ours,  and  his  j  and  x  are 
the  same  as  the  Irish  and  Scotch  pronunciation 
of  ch  &n&gh. 

The  Spanish  language  is  not  difficult  to  learn — 
at  any  rate  to  read  and  understand — because  there 
are  absolutely  no  unnecessary  letters,  if  we  except 
the  initial  h,  which  is,  or  appears  to  us,  silent — 
and  the  pronunciation  is  invariable.  What  a 
mine  of  literary  treasure  is  opened  to  the  reader 
by  a  knowledge  of  Spanish,  no  one  who  is  ignorant 
of  that  majestic  and  poetic  language  can  imagine. 
With  the  single  exception  of  Longfellow's  beauti- 
ful rendering  of  the  Coplas  de  Manrique,  which  is 
absolutely  literal,  while  preserving  all  the  grace 
and  dignity  of  the  original,  I  know  of  no  transla- 
tion from  the  Spanish  which  gives  the  reader  any 
real  idea  of  the  beauty  of  Spanish  literature  in  the 
past  ages,  nor  even  of  such  works  of  to-day  as 
those  of  Juan  Valera  and  some  others. 

Picturesque  and  poetic  ideas  seem  common  to 
the  Spaniard  to-day,  as  ever.  Only  the  other  day, 
in  discussing  the  monument  to  be  erected  to  Al- 
fonso XII.  in  Madrid,  one  of  the  newspapers  re- 
ported the  suggestion — finally  adopted,  I  think — 
that  it  should  be  an  equestrian  statue  of  the  young 
King,  "  with  the  look  on  his  face  with  which  he 
entered  Madrid  after  ending  the  Carlist  war." 
What  a  picture  it  summons  to  the  imagination  of 


The  Future  of  Spain         269 

the  boy  King — for  he  was  no  more — in  the  pride 
of  his  conquest  of  the  elements  of  disorder  and  of 
civil  war,  which  had  so  long  distracted  his  beloved 
country — a  successful  soldier  and  a  worthy  King! 

Spain  is  a  country  of  surprises  and  of  contra- 
dictions; even  her  own  people  seem  unable  to 
predict  what  may  happen  on  the  morrow.  Those 
who  knew  her  best  had  come  to  despair  of  her 
emancipation  at  the  very  moment  when  Prim  and 
Topete  actually  carried  the  Revolution  to  a  suc- 
cessful issue.  Again,  after  the  miserable  fiasco 
of  the  attempt  at  a  republic,  the  world,  even  in 
Spain  itself,  was  taken  by  surprise  by  the  peace- 
ful restoration  of  Alfonso  XII. 

I  can,  perhaps,  most  fitly  end  this  attempt  at 
showing  the  causes  of  Spain's  decay  and  portray- 
ing the  present  characteristics  of  this  most  inter- 
esting and  romantic  nation  by  a  quotation  from 
the  pen  of  one  of  her  sons.  Don  Antonio  Ferrer 
del  Rio,  Librarian  of  the  Ministry  of  Commerce, 
Instruction,  and  Public  Works,  and  member  of 
the  Reales  Academias  de  Buenas  Letras  of  Seville 
and  Barcelona,  thus  writes,  in  his  preface  to  his 
Decadenda  de  Espana,  published  in  Madrid  in 
1850:  "It  is  my  intention  to  point  out  the  true 
origin  of  the  decadence  of  Spain.  The  imagina- 
tion of  the  ordinary  Spaniard  has  always  been 
captivated  by,  and  none  of  them  have  failed  to 
sing  the  praises  of,  those  times  in  which  the  sun 
never  set  on  the  dominion  of  its  kings."  While 
professing  not  to  presume  to  dispute  this  former 


270  Spanish  Life 

glory,  Senor  Ferrer  del  Rio  goes  on  to  say  that 
he  only  aspires  to  get  at  the  truth  of  his  country's 
subsequent  decay.  "  There  was  one  happy  epoch 
in  which  Spain  reached  the  summit  of  her  great- 
ness— that  of  the  Reyes  Catolicos,  Don  Fernando 
V.  and  Dona  Isabel  I.  Under  their  reign  were 
united  the  sceptres  of  Castilla,  Aragon,  Navarra, 
and  Granada;  the  feudal  system  disappeared — it 
had  never  extended  far  into  the  eastern  limits  of 
the  kingdom — the  abuses  in  the  Church  were  in 
great  measure  reformed,  the  administration  of  the 
kingdom  with  the  magnificent  reign  of  justice  be- 
gan to  be  consolidated,  in  the  Cortes  the  powerful 
voice  of  the  people  was  heard;  and  almost  at  the 
same  moment  Christian  Spain  achieved  the  con- 
quest of  the  Moors,  against  whom  the  different 
provinces  had  been  struggling  for  eight  centuries, 
and  the  immortal  discovery  of  a  new  world.  Up 
to  this  moment  the  prosperity  of  Spain  was  rising; 
from  that  hour  her  decadence  began.  With  her 
liberty  she  lost  everything,  although  for  some 
time  longer  her  military  laurels  covered  from 
sight  her  real  misfortunes."  After  referring  to 
the  defeat  of  the  Comuneros,  and  the  execution  of 
Padilla  and  his  companions,  champions  of  the 
people's  rights,  he  goes  on  to  show  that  while  the 
aristocracy  had  received  a  mortal  blow  in  the  reign 
of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  in  the  cause  of  consoli- 
dating the  kingdom  and  of  internal  order,  they 
had  retained  sufficient  power  to  trample  on  the 
liberties  of  the  people,  while  they  were  not  strong 


The  Future  of  Spain          271 

enough  to  form  a  barrier  against  the  encroach- 
ments of  the  absolute  monarchs  who  succeeded, 
or  to  prevent  the  power  eventually  lapsing  into 
the  hands  of  the  Church.  "  Consequently,  the- 
ocracy gained  the  ascendency,  formidably  aided 
and  strengthened  by  the  odious  tribunal  whose 
installation  shadowed  even  the  glorious  epoch  of 
Isabel  and  Fernando,  absorbing  all  jurisdiction, 
and  interfering  with  all  government.  Religious 
wars  led  naturally  to  European  conflicts,  to  the 
Spanish  people  being  led  to  wage  war  against 
heresy  everywhere,  and  the  nation — exhausted  by 
its  foreign  troubles,  oppressed  internally  under 
the  tyranny  of  the  Inquisition,  which,  usurping 
the  name  of  '  Holy,'  had  become  the  right  hand 
of  the  policy  of  Charles  V.,  and  the  supreme 
power  in  the  Government  of  his  grandson,  Philip 
II. — lost  all  the  precious  gifts  of  enlightenment 
in  a  blind  and  frantic  fanaticism.  The  people 
only  awoke  from  lethargy,  and  showed  any  ani- 
mation, to  rush  in  crowds  to  the  Autos  da  f£,  in 
which  the  ministers  of  the  altar  turned  Christian 
charity  into  a  bleeding  corpse,  and  reproduced 
the  terrible  scenes  of  the  Roman  amphitheatre. 
Where  the  patricians  had  cried  '  Christians  to 
the  lions! '  superstition  shouted  '  Heretics  to  the 
stake ! '  Humanity  was  not  less  outraged  than 
in  the  spectacle  of  Golgotha.  Spanish  monarchs 
even  authorised  by  their  presence  those  san- 
guinary spectacles,  while  the  nobles  and  great 
personages  in  the  kingdom  thought  themselves 


272  Spanish  Life 

honoured  when  they  were  made  alguiriles,  or 
familiars  of  the  holy  office.  Theocratic  power 
preponderated,  and  intellectual  movement  be- 
came paralysed,  civilisation  stagnated." 

This  has  ever  been  the  result  of  priestly  rule. 
One  can  understand  the  feeling  of  the  liberal- 
minded  Spaniard  of  to-day  that,  without  wishing 
to  interfere  with  the  charitable  works  inaugurated 
by  the  clergy,  nor  desiring  in  any  way  to  show 
disrespect  to  the  Church,  or  the  religion  which  is 
dear  to  the  hearts  of  the  people,  a  serious  danger 
lies,  as  the  Press  is  daily  pointing  out,  in  the 
religious  orders,  more  especially  the  Jesuits,  ob- 
taining a  pernicious  influence  over  the  young, 
undermining  by  a  system  of  secret  inquisition  the 
teachings  of  science,  gaining  power  over  the  minds 
of  the  officers  in  the  army,  and  establishing  a  press 
agency  which  shall  become  a  danger  to  the  con- 
stitution. 

Spain's  outlook  seems  brighter  to-day  than  it 
has  ever  been  since  her  Golden  Age  of  Isabella  and 
Ferdinand;  and  it  is  the  people  who  have  awak- 
ened, a  people  who  have  shown  what  power  lies 
in  them  to  raise  their  beloved  country  to  the  posi- 
tion which  is  her  right  among  the  nations  of  the 
world.  But  prophecy  is  vain  in  a  country  of 
which  it  has  been  said  "  that  two  and  two  never 
make  four."  This  year,  if  all  go  well  meantime, 
Alfonso  XIII.  will  take  the  reins  in  his  own  hands 
— a  mere  boy,  even  younger  than  his  father  was 
when  called  to  the  throne;  than  whom,  however, 


The  Future  of  Spain          273 

Spain  has  never  had  a  more  worthy  ruler.  But 
Alfonso  XII.  had  been  schooled  by  adversity — he 
had  to  some  extent  roughed  it  amongst  Austrian 
and  English  boys.  He  came  fresh  from  Sand- 
hurst and  from  the  study  of  countries  other  than 
his  own.  To  a  naturally  clever  mind  he  had 
added  the  invaluable  lesson  of  a  knowledge  of 
the  world  as  seen  by  one  of  the  crowd,  not  from 
the  close  precincts  of  a  court  and  the  elevation  of 
a  throne. 

The  child  Alfonso  XIII.  has  grown  to  be  a 
man :  a  young  man  full  of  generous  impulses, 
and  deeply  imbued  by  his  wise  mother  in  the 
duties  and  responsibilities  of  a  constitutional 
monarch.  To  him,  in  the  flower  of  his  promising 
youth,  Queen  Christina  has  handed  unimpaired 
the  sceptre  she  bore  so  bravely  in  the  anxious 
years  of  her  son's  long  minority.  Peace  and  a 
measure  of  prosperity  have  continued  to  smile 
upon  Spain,  and  in  the  international  councils  of 
Europe  the  ancient  monarchy  bears  an  increas- 
ingly important  part,  in  cordial  friendship  with 
the  two  great  democratic  forces,  England  and 
France.  Those  who  on  the  memorable  day  in 
May,  1901,  saw  the  King,  so  bright  and  eager,  so 
'manly  yet  so  pathetically  young,  face  his  parlia- 
ment and  his  people  for  the  first  time  as  their 
ruler,  and  with  head  erect  and  ringing  voice 
swear  to  guard  inviolate  the  Constitution  by  which 
he  reigned,  could  not  fail  to  be  impressed  with 
the  earnest  sincerity,  the  evident  determination, 


274  Spanish  Life 

of  the  young  man  to  do  right  and  fear  nothing. 
Mistakes  Alphonso  XIII.  may  make,  for  he  is 
human  ;  but  it  may  be  certainly  predicted  of  him 
that,  like  his  father  before  him,  he  will  do  no  evil 
knowingly  to  his  people  ;  and  that  he  will,  so  far 
as  in  him  lies,  keep  his  pact  with  the  subjects 
whose  love  and  sympathy  he  has  already  gained. 
The  old  politicians  of  the  Revolution  are  drop- 
ping off  one  by  one.  Silvela,  Sagasta,  Romero- 
Robledo,  and  Pi  y  Margall  have  died  since  this 
book  was  written,  and  the  newer  statesmen  who 
alternately  govern  Spain  have  found,  as  Canovas 
in  his  own  words  said  of  Alphonso  XII.,  when 
he  was  of  the  same  age  as  his  son  is  now, 
that  in  Alphonso  XIII.  they  "have  a  master." 
lyike  his  father,  too,  the  young  King  determined 
to  marry  for  love,  and  to  marry  an  English  prin- 
cess, bred  in  the  free  atmosphere  of  British 
life.  When  Alphonso  XII.  was  urged  by  his 
ministers  to  adopt  a  measure  limiting  religious 
freedom  in  Spain,  he  replied  :  ' '  There  are  two 
things  upon  which  I  will  never  give  way,  though 
it  cost  me  my  crown  :  I  will  never  suppress  reli- 
gious liberty,  and  I  will  never  marry  against  my 
will ' '  ;  and  the  influences  whose  activity  in  an 
opposite  direction  drew  this  declaration  from  Al- 
phonso XII.  have  found  in  his  son  the  same  firm 
resolve  to  resist  the  retrogressive  forces  of  bigotry, 
and  to  suffer  no  political  coercion  in  the  matter  of 
his  marriage.  The  Catholic  faith  is,  and  must 
remain,  the  religion  of  Spain ;  but  the  day  of 


The  Future  of  Spain          275 

religious  persecution  and  tyrannical  priestcraft  is 
past  for  ever,  and  Catholic  Spain  is  to  be  as  free 
as  Protestant  England.  The  sympathies  of  Brit- 
ons join  those  of  Spaniards  towards  the  young 
couple  who  under  such  hopeful  auspices  have 
begun  life  together.  The  national  friendship 
typified  by  the  personal  union  is  a  pledge  of 
peace  for  Spain,  and  an  advantage  for  England, 
and  the  closer  communion  between  the  peoples 
cannot  but  inspire  Spain  once  more,  as  a  similar 
friendship  did  well-nigh  a  century  ago,  with 
attachment  to  orderly  liberty  guaranteed  by  pure 
parliamentary  government  such  as  happily  pre- 
vails in  our  own  laud. 

For  Spain  most  of  the  auguries  are  hopeful. 
The  vexed  question  of  ' '  regionalism ' '  in  Biscay 
and  Cataluna  still  stirs  the  nation  to  its  heart ;  but 
the  wisest  of  those  who  have  hitherto  clamoured 
for  complete  provincial  autonomy  are  beginning 
to  recognise  that  the  best  way  of  attaining  the 
end  they  have  in  view  is  not  to  stand  apart  from 
the  national  life  and  cry  for  an  impracticable 
separation,  but  for  the  wealthy,  active  provinces 
of  the  north  to  infuse  into  all  departments  of  the 
national  life  some  of  their  own  energy  and 
strength :  for  Biscay  and  Cataluna  to  conquer 
and  influence  the  rest  of  Spain  as  Scotland  has 
influenced  the  rest  of  Britain,  and,  whilst  retain- 
ing in  vigour  provincial  institutions,  work  for, 
and  with,  the  nation  as  a  whole.  Whatever  solu- 
tion may  be  found  for  this  and  other  burning 


276  Spanish  Life 

questions,  one  thing  may  be  foretold  with  con- 
fidence :  The  days  of  despotism  have  fled  for  ever 
from  Spain.  The  law  and  not  the  crown  shall 
rule ;  and  the  bent  of  the  young  King,  so  far  as 
it  is  known,  encourages  the  hope  that  the  popular 
liberties  will  have  in  time  a  strenuous  champion 
and  a  faithful  guardian.  It  must  be  the  wish  of 
all  the  English  race,  as  it  certainly  is  of  Spaniards, 
that  he  with  an  English  bride  may  reign  long 
and  happily  over  a  free  people ;  and  in  the  pro- 
cess of  time  be  succeeded  by  Anglo -Spanish  de- 
scendants handing  down  the  traditions  of  popular 
government  for  future  ages  in  a  country  which  in 
the  past  despotism  has  done  its  best  to  ruin.  In- 
deed, in  the  good  sense  of  the  Queen  and  her 
robust  mind  and  body  is  the  hope  of  the  future 
of  Spain. 


PORTUGUESE  LIFE 
IN  TOWN  AND  COUNTRY 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

LAND   AND 


IT  has  been  said,  and  it  is  often  repeated,  that  if 
you  strip  a  Spaniard  of  his  virtues,  the  re- 
siduum will  be  a  Portuguese.  This  cruel  state- 
ment is  rather  the  result  of  prejudice  than  arising 
from  any  foundation  in  fact.  It  has  a  superficial 
cleverness  which  attracts  some  people,  and  espe- 
cially those  who  have  but  an  imperfect  knowledge 
of  the  true  life  and  character  of  the  people  thus 
stigmatised. 

Lord  Londonderry,  in  Chapter  VI.  of  his  Nar- 
rative of  the  Peninsular  War,  writes  thus  of  the 
difference  of  character  between  the  two  nations: 
"  Having  halted  at  Klvas  during  the  night,  we 
marched  next  morning  soon  after  dawn;  and, 
passing  through  a  plain  of  considerable  extent, 
crossed  the  Guadiana  at  Badajoz,  the  capital  of 
277 


278  Portuguese  Life 

Estremadura.  This  movement  introduced  us  at 
once  into  Spain;  and  the  contrast,  both  in  per- 
sonal appearance  and  in  manners,  between  the 
people  of  the  two  nations,  which  was  instantly 
presented  to  us,  I  shall  not  readily  forget.  Gen- 
erally speaking,  the  natives  of  frontier  districts 
partake  almost  as  much  of  the  character  of  one 
nation  as  of  another.  .  .  .  It  is  not  so  on  the 
borders  of  Spain  and  Portugal.  The  peasant  who 
cultivates  his  little  field,  or  tends  his  flock  on  the 
right  bank  of  the  Guadiana,  is,  in  all  his  habits 
and  notions,  a  different  being  from  the  peasant 
who  pursues  similar  occupations  on  its  left  bank ; 
the  first  is  a  genuine  Portuguese,  the  last  is  a 
genuine  Spaniard  .  .  .  They  cordially  de- 
test one  another;  insomuch  that  their  common 
wrongs  and  their  common  enmity  to  the  French 
were  not  sufficient,  even  at  this  time,  to  eradicate 
the  feeling. 

"  It  was  not,  however,  by  the  striking  diversity 
of  private  character  alone  which  subsisted  between 
them,  that  we  were  made  sensible,  as  soon  as  we 
had  passed  the  Guadiana,  that  a  new  nation  was 
before  us.  The  Spaniards  received  us  with  a  de- 
gree of  indifference  to  which  we  had  not  hitherto 
been  accustomed.  They  were  certainly  not  un- 
civil. .  .  .  Whatever  we  required  they  gave 
us,  in  return  for  our  money;  but  as  to  enthusiasm 
or  a  desire  to  anticipate  our  wants,  there  was  not 
the  shadow  of  an  appearance  of  anything  of  the 
kind  about  them.  How  different  all  this  from 


Land  and  People  279 

the  poor  Portuguese,  who  never  failed  to  rend  the 
air  with  their  vivats,  and  were  at  all  times  full  of 
promises  and  protestations,  no  matter  how  in- 
capable they  might  be  of  fulfilling  the  one  or 
authenticating  the  other !  The  truth  is  that  the 
Spaniard  is  a  proud,  independent,  and  grave  per- 
sonage; possessing  many  excellent  qualities,  but 
quite  conscious  of  their  existence,  and  not  unapt 
to  overrate  them.  .  .  .  Yet  with  all  this,  there 
was  much  about  the  air  and  manner  of  the  Span- 
iards to  deserve  and  command  our  regard.  The 
Portuguese  are  a  people  that  require  rousing; 
they  are  indolent,  lazy,  and  generally  helpless. 
We  may  value  these  our  faithful  allies,  and  render 
them  useful ;  but  it  is  impossible  highly  to  respect 
them.  In  the  Spanish  character,  on  the  contrary, 
there  is  mixed  up  a  great  deal  of  haughtiness,  a 
sort  of  manly  independence  of  spirit,  which  you 
cannot  but  admire,  even  though  aware  that  it  will 
render  them  by  many  degrees  less  amenable  to 
your  wishes  than  their  neighbours." 

With  due  allowance  for  time  and  circumstances, 
much  in  this  passage  might  have  been  written  to- 
day instead  of  nearly  ninety  years  ago,  and  one 
cause  of  the  difference  in  feeling  is  no  doubt  ex- 
plained truly  enough.  Perhaps  some  shallow 
persons  are  affected  by  the  fact  that  in  good  looks 
the  Portuguese  are  as  a  race  inferior  to  the  Span- 
iards. But  there  is  no  such  real  difference  in 
character  as  to  justify  an  impartial  observer  in 
using  a  phrase  so  essentially  galling  to  England's 


280  Portuguese  Life 

allies,  of  whom  Napier  said :  ' '  The  bulk  of  the 
people  were,  however,  staunch  in  their  country's 
cause  .  .  .  ready  at  the  call  of  honour,  and  sus- 
ceptible of  discipline,  without  any  loss  of  energy." 
Throughout  the  whole  Iberian  Peninsula  the 
main  axiom  of  life  appears  to  be  the  same: 
' '  Never  do  to-day  what  you  can  put  off  to  to- 
morrow." On  the  left  bank  of  the  Guadiana  it  is 
summarised  by  the  word  manana ;  on  the  right 
bank  the  word  used  is  amanha.  There  is  only  a 
phonetic  distinction  between  the  Spanish  and  the 
Portuguese  idea.  It  is  necessary  for  the  traveller 
in  these  countries  to  keep  this  axiom  well  in 
mind,  for  it  affords  a  clue  to  character  and  con- 
duct the  value  of  which  cannot  be  over-estimated, 
and  not  only  to  the  character  and  conduct  of  in- 
dividuals, but  to  the  whole  national  life  of  the 
inhabitants.  In  Portugal  it  permeates  all  public 
and  municipal  life,  and  appears  to  affect  most 
especially  that  portion  of  the  population  who  do 
not  earn  their  living  by  manual  labour.  The 
higher  one  goes  up  the  scale,  the  greater  becomes 
the  evidence  of  the  ingrained  habits  of  dilatori- 
ness  and  procrastination,  and  so  any  hard  work 
on  the  part  of  the  lower  class  of  toilers  cannot  be 
properly  directed,  and  the  commerce  and  industry 
of  the  country  either  dwindle  away  together,  or 
fall  into  the  hands  of  more  energetic  and  active 
foreigners,  who  naturally  carry  off  the  profits 
which  should  be  properly  applied  to  the  welfare 
and  prosperity  of  the  Lusitanians. 


Land  and  People  281 

The  mineral  wealth  and  natural  resources  of  the 
country  are  enormous,  and  it  is  really  sad  to  con- 
template the  little  use  that  is  made  of  the  one  or 
of  the  other  unless  developed  by  alien  energy  and 
worked  by  alien  capital.  As  regards  this  latter 
important  factor,  the  administrative  corruption 
and  the  unsound  state  of  the  national  finances 
render  it  difficult  to  find  foreign  capitalists  who 
are  able  and  willing  to  embark  in  the  industrial 
enterprises,  the  successful  issue  of  which  affords 
the  only  chance  for  this  most  interesting  nation 
to  recover  something  of  its  ancient  prosperity  and 
to  once  more  take  a  position  in  the  world  worthy 
of  the  land  of  the  hardy  sailors  and  valiant  cap- 
tains who  have  left  so  imperishable  a  record  over 
the  earth's  surface. 

The  intellectual  life  of  Portugal  seems  to  have 
ceased  with  Camoens.  It  is  rather  pathetic  the 
way  in  which  the  ordinary  educated  Portuguese 
refers  back  to  the  great  poet  and  to  the  heroic 
period  which  he  commemorated.  No  conversa- 
tion of  any  length  can  be  carried  on  without  a 
reference  to  Camoens  and  to  Vasco  da  Gama. 
All  history  and  all  progress  appear  to  have  cul- 
minated and  stopped  then.  Apparently  nothing 
worthy  of  note  has  happened  since.  Camoens 
returned  to  Lisbon  in  1569,  and  his  great  epic 
poem  saw  the  light  in  1572.  He  died  in  a  public 
hospital  in  Lisbon  in  1579  or  1580.  In  the  latter 
year  began  the  ' '  sixty  years'  captivity, ' '  when 
Portugal  became  merely  a  Spanish  province;  yet 


282  Portuguese  Life 

there  is  no  recollection  of  this  —  except  the  in- 
grained hatred  of  Spaniards  and  of  everything 
Spanish — or  of  the  shaking  off  the  yoke  in  1640, 
and  of  the  battle  of  Amexial  in  1663,  where  the 
English  contingent  bore  the  brunt  of  the  battle, 
and  the  ' '  Portugueses, ' '  as  they  are  called  by  the 
author  of  An  Account  of  the  Court  of  Portugal, 
published  in  1700,  claimed  the  principal  part  of 
the  honour.  The  traces  of  the  Peninsular  War 
have  faded  away,  and  on  the  lines  of  Torres 
Vedras  there  is  scarcely  any  tradition  of  the  cause 
of  their  existence.  In  Lisbon,  indeed,  there  is 
one  incident  of  later  date  than  Camoens,  which  is 
considered  worthy  of  remembrance, —  the  great 
earthquake  of  1755, —  but  this  can  scarcely  be 
looked  upon  as  a  national  achievement,  or  a 
matter  of  intellectual  development. 

That  Camoens  is  a  fitting  object  for  a  nation's 
veneration  cannot  for  a  moment  be  doubted.  The 
high  encomium  passed  upon  "  the  Student,  the 
Soldier,  the  Traveller,  the  Patriot,  the  Poet, 
the  mighty  Man  of  Genius"  by  Burton,  appears 
to  be  in  no  way  exaggerated.  The  healthful  in- 
fluence of  his  life  and  writings  has  done  and  is 
still  doing  good  in  his  beloved  country.  But 
though  the  man  who  in  his  lifetime  was  neglected, 
and  who  was  allowed  to  die  in  the  depths  of  pov- 
erty and  misery,  is  now  the  most  honoured  of  his 
countrymen,  and  his  rank  as  one  of  the  world's 
great  poets  is  universally  acknowledged,  his 
labours  have  been  to  a  certain  extent  in  vain. 


Land  and  People  283 

Not  only  industry,  but  culture,  literature,  and 
art  appear  to  be  infested  with  the  mildew  of  de- 
cay. There  is  a  good  university  at  Coirnbra, 
where  alone,  it  is  said,  the  language  is  spoken 
correctly.  There  is  an  excellent  system  of  ele- 
mentary and  secondary  schools,  but  in  practice  it 
is  incomplete  and  subject  to  many  abuses,  like 
most  public  institutions  in  the  country.  The 
irregularities  of  the  language,  without  authorita- 
tive spelling  or  pronunciation,  and  the  best  dic- 
tionary of  which  is  Brazilian,  have  a  bad  effect 
upon  the  literature  of  the  country. 

The  language,  more  purely  Latin  in  its  base 
than  either  of  the  other  Latin  tongues,  with  an 
admixture  of  Moorish,  and  strengthend  by  the 
admission  of  many  words  of  foreign  origin,  intro- 
duced during  the  period  of  great  commercial  pros- 
perity, possesses  ample  means  for  the  expression 
of  ideas  and  of  shades  of  thought,  and  though  it 
loses  somewhat  of  the  musical  quality  of  the  other 
languages  in  consequence  of  a  rather  large  per- 
centage of  the  nasal  tones  which  are  peculiar  to 
it,  yet  it  will  hold  its  own  well  with  the  remain- 
ing members  of  the  group. 

Whatever  the  cause,  however,  there  is  hardly 
any  general  literature;  almost  the  only  books 
(not  professional  or  technical)  which  are  pub- 
lished, appear  to  be  translations  of  French  nov- 
els— not  of  the  highest  class.  Perhaps  in  the 
study  of  archaeology  and  folklore  is  to  be  found 
the  most  cultured  phase  of  Portuguese  intelli- 


284  Portuguese  Life 

gence.  The  Archaeological  Society  of  Lisbon 
strives  to  do  good  work,  and  has  a  museum  with 
interesting  relics  in  the  old  church  of  the  Carmo, 
itself  one  of  the  most  interesting  and  graceful 
ruins  left  out  of  the  havoc  caused  by  the  great 
earthquake. 

As  might  be  expected  under  such  circumstances, 
the  newspapers  are,  with  few  exceptions,  of  the 
"  rag  "  variety.  Conducted  for  the  most  part  by 
clever  young  fellows  fresh  from  Coimbra,  they  are 
violent  in  their  views  and  incorrect  in  their  news, 
especially  with  regard  to  foreign  intelligence. 
They  have  some  influence,  no  doubt,  but  not  so 
much  as  the  same  type  of  newspaper  in  France. 
The  habitual  want  of  veracity  of  the  Portuguese 
character  is  naturally  emphasised  in  the  news- 
papers, and  no  one  in  his  senses  would  believe  any 
statement  made  in  them. 

A  sure  sign  of  the  decadence  of  intellectual  life, 
as  well  as  of  commercial  activity,  is  to  be  found  in 
the  postal  service,  with  its  antiquated  methods 
and  imperfect  arrangements.  It  is  administered 
in  a  happy-go-lucky  manner,  which  amuses  at  the 
same  time  that  it  annoys.  Truly,  with  the  post- 
office,  it  is  well  constantly  to  repeat  to  one's  self 
the  phrase:  "Patience!  all  will  be  well  to- 
morrow!" Probably  it  won't  be  well;  but  none 
but  a  foolish  Englishman  or  Frenchman  or  Ger- 
man will  bother  about  such  a  little  matter. 

A  kindly,  brave,  docile,  dishonest,  patient,  and 
courteous  people,  who,  to  quote  Napier  "  retain  a 


Land  and  People  285 

sense  of  injury  or  insult  with  incredible  tenac- 
ity; "  and  a  due  observance  of  their  customs  and 
proper  politeness  are  so  readily  met,  and  friendly 
advances  are  so  freely  proffered,  that  a  sojourn 
amongst  them  is  pleasant  enough.  I  have  won- 
dered that  the  tourist  has  not  found  his  way  more 
into  this  smiling  land,  though,  no  doubt,  his 
absence  is  a  matter  of  congratulation  to  the  travel- 
ler in  these  regions.  The  country  has  many 
beauties,  the  people  and  their  costumes  are  pict- 
uresque, and  the  cost  of  living — even  allowing 
for  a  considerable  percentage  of  cheating — is  not 
excessive.  There  is,  I  suppose,  a  want  of  the 
ordinary  attractions  for  the  pure  tourist  or  globe- 
trotter. There  are  churches,  monuments,  and 
objects  of  interest  in  goodly  numbers,  and  there 
is  beautiful  scenery  in  great  variety ;  but  the  true 
attraction  to  a  thoughtful  visitor  lies  in  the  con- 
templation of  the  people  themselves. 

The  Portuguese,  taken  as  a  whole,  are  not  a 
good-looking  race.  The  women,  who,  as  a  rule, 
are  very  pretty  as  little  girls,  lose  their  good  looks 
as  they  grow  up,  and  are  disappointing  when 
compared  with  the  Spaniards.  Sometimes  one 
comes  across  fish-  or  market-women  of  consider- 
able comeliness,  which,  when  conjoined  to  the 
graceful  figure  and  poise  induced  by  the  habitual 
carriage  of  heavy  weights  on  the  head  and  the 
absence  of  shoes,  makes  a  striking  picture.  The 
costume  is  attractive,  and  the  wealth  of  golden  ear- 
rings, charms,  chains,  and  such  like,  in  which  these 


286  Portuguese  Life 

women  invest  their  savings,  does  not  somehow 
seem  anomalous  or  incongruous,  though  shown 
on  a  background  of  dirty  and  ragged  clothing. 

One  unfortunate  peculiarity  that  cannot  help 
being  noticed  is  the  number  of  persons  whose  eyes 
are  not  on  the  same  level.  When  this  does  not 
amount  to  an  actual  disfigurement,  it  is  still  a 
blemish  which  prevents  many  a  young  girl  from 
being  classed  as  a  beauty.  This  and  the  peculiar 
notched  or  cleft  teeth  seem  to  point  to  an  heredi- 
tary taint.  Also  unmistakable  signs  of  a  greater 
or  lesser  admixture  of  black  blood  are  numerous. 
As  a  rule,  the  Portuguese  are  dark-complexioned, 
with  large  dark  eyes  and  black  hair;  but,  of 
course,  one  meets  many  exceptions.  The  men 
of  the  working  class  are  fond  of  wearing  enor- 
mous bushy  whiskers,  and  women  of  all  classes 
are  accustomed  to  wear  moustachios.  The  thin 
line  of  softest  down  which  accentuates  the  ripe 
lips  of  the  senhorina  of  some  seventeen  sum- 
mers becomes  an  unattractive  incident  in  the 
broad  countenance  of  the  stout  lady  of  advancing 
years;  and  when,  as  sometimes  happens,  the 
hirsute  appendages  take  the  form  of  a  thin, 
straggling  beard,  with  a  tooth-brush  moustache, 
it  can  only  be  described  as  an  unmitigated  horror. 

Society  in  Portugal  is  very  mixed.  There  are 
the  <A&fidalgos,  haughty  and  unapproachable,  and 
often  very  poor,  the  descendants  of  the  nobles 
whose  duplicity,  ability  in  intrigue,  and  want  of 
patriotism  are  so  often  alluded  to  in  the  pages  of 


Land  and  People  287 

Napier.  Then  there  are  the  new  nobility,  the 
"  titled  Brasileros,"  as  Galenga  calls  them,  who 
have  come  back  from  Brazil  to  their  native  land 
with  large  fortunes  acquired  somehow,  and  who 
practically  buy  titles,  as  well  as  lands  and  houses. 
Wealthy  tradesmen,  also,  hold  a  special  position 
in  the  mixed  middle  class.  There  is,  too,  a 
curious  blending  of  old-fashioned  courtesy  with 
democratic  sentiments.  The  tradesman  welcomes 
his  customers  with  effusive  politeness — shakes 
hands  as  he  invites  them  to  sit  down,  and  chats 
with  these  perhaps  titled  ladies  without  any  affec- 
tation or  assumption.  After  a  while  the  parties 
turn  to  business.  A  sort  of  Oriental  bargaining 
takes  place,  the  seller  asking  twice  as  much  as 
the  object  is  worth  and  he  intends  to  take.  The 
purchaser  meets  this  with  an  offer  of  about  half 
what  she  intends  to  give.  With  the  utmost  polite- 
ness and  civility  the  negotiations  are  conducted 
on  either  side.  Each  gives  way  little  by  little, 
and  in  the  end  a  bargain  is  struck.  The  amounts 
involved  appear  to  be  enormous,  as  the  reis  are 
computed  by  thousands  and  hundreds;  but,  then, 
the  real  is  only  worth  about  the  thousandth  part 
of  three  shillings  and  twopence  at  the  present 
rate  of  exchange,  and  the  long  and  exciting 
transaction,  in  all  its  various  phases,  has  resulted 
in  one  or  other  of  the  parties  having  scored  or 
missed  a  small  victory.  Verily,  even  to  the  loser, 
the  pleasure  is  cheap  at  the  price. 

The  Brazilian  element  is  most  conspicuous  in 


288  Portuguese  Life 

Lisbon,  and  partly  in  consequence  that  city  is 
only  a  little  modern  capital,  somewhat  feebly 
imitating  Paris  in  certain  ways,  and,  conse- 
quently, lacking  the  individuality  and  interest  of 
Oporto.  Yet  Lisbon  has  a  charm  of  its  own ;  and 
the  beauties  of  the  Aveneida,  the  Roscio  (known 
to  the  English  as  the  "  Rolling  Motion  Square," 
from  its  curious  pattern  of  black  and  white  pave- 
ment), the  Black  Horse  Square,  the  broad  and 
beautiful  Tagus,  the  hills  whereon  the  city  is 
built,  and  the  lovely  gardens  with  their  sub- 
tropical vegetation,  will  repay  a  stay  of  some 
weeks'  duration. 

Outside  the  mercantile  element,  there  is  con- 
siderable difficulty  for  a  stranger  to  formulate  the 
boundaries  of  other  social  strata.  It  would  ap- 
pear that  the  professions  are  in  an  indifferent 
position.  Lawyers,  of  course,  as  in  most  other 
countries,  are  looked  upon  as  rogues.  How  far 
this  is  the  effect  of  the  general  prejudice,  or 
whether  it  has  any  special  foundation  in  fact,  it 
would  be  hard  to  say.  No  doubt  there  are  up- 
right men  amongst  them,  as  in  every  other  walk 
of  life.  There  is  a  general  idea  that  the  medical 
training  is  lax,  and  the  doctors,  as  a  rule,  are  not 
highly  considered.  It  is  admitted,  however,  that 
they  are"  as  devoted,  and  as  ready  to  risk  their 
own  lives,  as  those  of  other  countries,  a  fact  which 
was  fully  proved  by  several  of  the  doctors  at 
Oporto  and  Lisbon  on  the  occasion  of  the  out- 
break of  the  plague  in  1899. 


Land  and  People  289 

The  system  of  fees  in  general  use  tends  to  dam- 
age the  position  of  both  lawyers  and  doctors.  In 
reply  to  the  question  as  to  his  indebtedness,  the 
client  or  the  patient  is  told:  "  What  you  please." 
This  sounds  courteous,  but  is,  in  effect,  embar- 
rassing, as  it  is  hard  to  estimate  what  is  a  fair 
fee  under  the  circumstances,  and  generally  one  or 
the  other  of  the  parties  is  dissatisfied,  and  a  sore 
feeling  is  left  behind. 

There  are  several  orders  of  knighthood,  which 
are  showered  about  on  occasion.  The  reasons  for 
giving  them  are  various.  For  instance,  a  Court 
tradesman  may  receive  a  decoration  in  lieu  of  im- 
mediate payment  of  a  long-standing  bill.  The 
ribbons  and  buttons  are  not  worn  so  freely  as  else- 
where on  the  Continent.  The  polite  style  in 
addressing  a  stranger  is  in  the  third  person,  and 
such  titles  as  Your  Excellency,  Your  Lordship, 
and  Your  Worship,  sometimes  enlarged  with  the 
adjective  illustrissimo  (most  illustrious),  are  com- 
mon enough.  When  an  Englishman  is  first  ad- 
dressed as  Vossa  Illustrissima  Excellencia  (Your 
Most  Illustrious  Excellency),  he  begins  to  feel  as 
if  he  were  playing  a  part  in  one  of  Gilbert  and 
Sullivan's  comic  operas.  He  soon  gets  used  to  it, 
however,  and  accepts  the  superlatives  without 
turning  a  hair. 

Of  all  classes  it  may  be  said  that  their  manners 
are,  on  the  whole,  good,  and  their  morals  gener- 
ally lax.  Cleanliness  has  no  special  place  assigned 

to  it  amongst  the  virtues.     If  it  comes  next  to 
19 


290  Portuguese  Life 

godliness,  then  the  latter  must  be  very  low  down 
the  scale.  It  seems  incredible,  but  verminous 
heads  are  to  be  found  in  the  ranks  of  well-to-do 
tradespeople.  Fleas  and  bugs  abound,  and  happy 
is  he  whose  skin  is  too  tough,  or  whose  flesh  is 
too  sour,  to  attract  these  ferocious  insects.  There 
is  not  much  luxury  and  there  is  a  fair  amount  of 
thrift,  while  frugality  of  living  is  common,  espe- 
cially among  the  populace. 

One  great  characteristic  is  the  intense  love  of 
children  which  is  exhibited  by  all  classes,  and 
there  is  no  surer  way  to  the  good  will  of  a  native 
than  a  kindness,  however  slight,  to  a  child  in 
whom  he  or  she  is  interested.  As  is  natural 
under  such  circumstances,  the  children  are  shock- 
ingly indulged  and  spoilt,  with  all  the  resultant 
unpleasant  and  evil  consequences.  Cats,  also, 
are  great  favourites  with  the  Portuguese,  and  the 
thousands  of  shabby  animals  of  Lisbon  and  Oporto 
show  no  sign  of  fear  if  a  stranger  stops  to  stroke 
them.  They  are  accustomed  to  kind  treatment, 
and  look  upon  all  human  beings  as  friends. 

As  a  rule,  a  rather  large  number  of  servants  are 
employed.  They  are  poorly  paid,  and  in  many 
households  indifferently  fed  and  housed.  Often 
they  are  dirty,  lazy,  dishonest  sluts.  They  chat- 
ter shrilly  with  the  master  or  mistress,  answer  and 
argue  when  told  of  any  shortcoming,  and  are 
always  ready  to  go  off  at  a  moment's  notice.  But 
they  are  often  capable  of  devoted  service,  and  of 
a  sincere  desire  to  be  obliging,  and  may  always 


Land  and  People  291 

be  counted  on  to  exhibit  the  utmost  kindness  to 
the  children  of  the  house.  Their  written  refer- 
ences, as  a  rule,  are  frauds.  If  you  ask  for  the 
boas  referencias  (good  references),  so  often  men- 
tioned in  the  advertisements  of  criadas  (female 
servants),  you  will  probably  find  that,  even  if 
genuine,  they  are  antiquated,  and  that  they  leave 
many  gaps  between  the  various  periods  of  service 
which  can  only  be  filled  up  by  conjecture.  Cria- 
das are  not,  as  a  rule,  of  immaculate  virtue,  and 
give  some  trouble  by  their  desire  to  go  to  festas 
and  to  servants'  balls.  The  male  servants  are,  as 
a  rule,  better  than  the  criadas.  Servants  are 
somewhat  roughly  treated,  and  are  ordered  about 
as  if  they  were  dogs.  It  is  always  said  that  they 
do  not  understand  or  appreciate  milder  or  more 
civil  treatment,  and  are  inclined  to  despise  a  mas- 
ter or  mistress  who  uses  the  Portuguese  equivalent 
to  "  please,"  or  who  acknowledges  a  service  with 
thanks.  I  am  inclined  to  doubt  this,  both  from 
my  personal  observation  and  from  a  casual  remark 
made  to  me  by  the  landlady  of  a  hotel  at  Cintra, 
that  her  waiters  and  servants  much  preferred 
English  to  native  visitors,  because  of  the  greater 
politeness  and  consideration  shown  to  them  by 
the  former.  Of  course,  as  in  all  other  countries, 
servants  are  described  as  one  of  the  greatest 
plagues  in  life;  but  this  must  be  taken  for  what 
it  is  worth.  And  what  would  the  ladies  do  with- 
out such  a  subject  to  grumble  about  ? 

Portugal  is  a  poor  country,  despite  its  natural 


292  Portuguese  Life 

resources.  The  wealthy  people  are  few,  and  con- 
sist mainly  of  returned  Brazilians.  It  cannot  be 
said,  either,  that  the  classes  in  the  enjoyment  of 
a  competence  constitute  a  fair  average  of  the  com- 
munity. But  the  poor  are  very  abundant.  Wages 
are  terribly  low,  even  a  foreman  in  an  engineering 
shop  getting  only  a  milrei  a  day,  averaging  35. 
2d.  in  English  money.  On  the  other  hand,  it  must 
be  remembered  that  in  such  a  climate  the  ' '  liv- 
ing wage  "  is  necessarily  lower  than  in  England. 
Many  necessities  in  England  are  superfluities  or 
even  inconveniences  under  sunnier  skies.  The 
people,  too,  are  very  frugal,  and  even  in  towns, 
though  rents  be  high,  all  other  necessaries  are 
moderate  in  price.  The  standard  of  life  is  not 
high,  and  the  people  are  contented  with  a  style 
of  living  which  would  be  indignantly  rejected  by 
English  labourers. 

The  artisans  are  not  good  workmen,  but  plod  on 
fairly  well,  and,  with  the  exception  of  festas,  re- 
quire few  holidays.  They  prefer  to  work  on  Sun- 
days, and  grumble  at  their  English  employers, 
who  generally  split  the  difference,  by  closing  their 
shops  for  half  a  day.  They  look  upon  this  as  a 
grievance,  however  much  they  may  be  assured 
that  it  makes  no  difference  in  their  wages. 

A  very  hard-working  class  of  men  are  the  Gal- 
legos,  the  natives  of  Galicia,  who  are  nearly  as 
numerous  in  Lisbon  as  they  were  when  Napier 
wrote,  and  where,  then  as  now,  they  act  as  porters, 
messengers,  scavengers,  and  water-carriers,  and 


Land  and  People  293 

are  found  in  all  sorts  of  lowly  and  laborious  occu- 
pations. As  porters  and  messengers,  they  have 
an  excellent  reputation  for  honesty,  and  for 
being  most  civil  and  obliging.  Gallenga,  a  fairly 
shrewd  observer,  considers  that  the  employment 
of  these  Spaniards  has  deplorable  effects  on  the 
character  of  the  Portuguese  nation.  I  cannot  go 
all  the  way  with  him  in  the  gloomy  view  he  takes 
of  it,  but  it  must  be  conceded  that  the  existence 
of  such  a  body  of  aliens  (estimated  at  twelve 
thousand  in  Lisbon  alone)  working  hard  and 
well  at  occupations  which  the  Portuguese  will 
not  do  at  all,  or,  if  they  attempt  them,  will  do  in- 
differently; herding  together  some  ten  or  twelve 
in  a  small  room,  living  on  maize  bread  and  a  clove 
of  garlic  washed  down  with  water;  accepting 
thankfully  a  very  attenuated  hire,  and  yet  con- 
triving to  send  substantial  savings  back  to  Ga- 
licia, — must  considerably  affect  the  labour  market 
and  tend  to  keep  wages  low.  They  also  close 
certain  forms  of  labour  to  the  native  worker, 
and  cause  these  industries  to  be  looked  on  with 
contempt. 

In  towns  like  Lisbon  and  Oporto  a  great  number 
of  persons  are  employed  in  the  fish  trade.  The 
fish-girls,  with  their  distinctive  costumes,  their 
bare  feet,  and  the  graceful  poise  of  the  heavy 
basket  of 'fish  on  their  heads,  are  a  very  charac- 
teristic feature  of  both  towns.  The  costumes  dif- 
fer in  the  two  cities,  mainly  in  the  head-gear,  but 
they  are  both  picturesque  and  dirty,  and  emit  the 


294  Portuguese  Life 

same  "  ancient  and  fish-like  smell."  The  men, 
too,  with  their  bare  legs  and  feet,  balancing  a  long 
pole  on  the  shoulder,  with  a  basket  of  fish  at  each 
end,  will  cover  a  marvellous  amount  of  ground 
in  a  day  at  the  curious  trotting  pace  which  they 
affect.  Miles  inland  these  men  will  carry  their 
finny  wares,  stopping  at  the  public  water-supplies 
to  moisten  the  cloth  which  protects  the  fish  from 
the  sun  and  dust.  These  may  or  may  not  be  fresh 
when  the  day's  work  is  nearly  done,  but  house- 
wives purchasing  a  supply  in  the  afternoon  had 
better  keep  a  very  sharp  look-out. 

Fish  plays  an  important  part  in  the  domestic 
economy  of  dwellers  within  a  reasonable  distance 
of  the  sea,  and  forms  a  considerable  item  in  the 
food-stuffs  of  the  working  classes.  It  is  fairly 
cheap,  and  is  cooked  so  as  to  get  the  full  value  of 
it.  More  important  than  the  fresh  fish  is  the 
salted  cod  (bacalhao).  This,  which  Napier  de- 
scribed as  "  the  ordinary  food  of  the  Portuguese," 
is  the  backbone  of  the  worker's  menu.  It  is  not 
fragrant,  nor  is  it  inviting  in  aspect  in  its  raw 
state,  but  it  is  said  to  be  highly  nutritive,  and  it 
can  certainly  be  cooked  in  ways  which  make  it 
appetising.  The  midday  meal,  which  the  wife 
brings  to  her  husband  at  his  work,  and  shares 
with  him  as  they  sit  in  the  shade,  is  often  com- 
posed of  a  caldo  (soup)  made  of  bacalhao,  or  of  all 
sorts  of  oddments,  thickened  with  beans  and 
flavoured  with  garlic,  accompanied  by  a  bit  of 
r3re-bread  or  of  broa,  the  bread  made  from  maize. 


Land  and  People  295 

These  soups  and  breads,  accompanied  by  salads, 
onions,  tomatoes,  and  other  vegetables,  washed 
down  with  draughts  of  a  light  red  table-wine  of 
little  alcoholic  strength,  form  the  not  unwhole- 
some average  diet  of  the  worker  with  his  hands. 
It  he  wants  to  get  drunk,  he  can  do  so,  with  some 
difficulty,  by  imbibing  sufficient  wine,  but  the 
easiest  method  is  to  drink  the  fearful  crude  spirit 
aguardente.  If  he  survive,  he  gets  horribly, 
brutally  drunk,  and  possibly  does  some  mischief 
before  he  recovers.  But  it  is  only  fair  to  say  that  he 
but  rarely  gets  drunk,  and  that  when  he  is  thirsty 
he  quenches  his  thirst  with  water,  with  a  harm- 
less decoction  of  herbs  or  lemonade,  or  with  the 
almost  innocuous  wine.  This  sobriety  is  not  the 
result  of  any  temperance  legislation  or  restrictions. 
No  license  is  required  for  opening  a  shop  for  the 
sale  of  liquor.  Only  revenue  dues  and  octroi 
duties  have  to  be  paid,  and,  of  course,  there  is  a 
liability  to  police  supervision,  which  provides  the 
police  with  a  means  of  increasing  their  very  in- 
adequate pay  by  bribes  or  blackmail. 

The  amusements  of  the  workman  in  the  town 
are  few  enough,  and  mostly  of  a  domestic  charac- 
ter. He  sits  on  his  doorstep,  or  on  a  bench  in 
the  nearest  gardens.  He  smokes  the  eternal 
cigarette,  gossips  with  his  neighbours,  plays  with 
his  children,  and  pets  the  cat.  His  only  real 
playtimes  are  the/estas,  when  for  some  hours  he 
indulges  in  revelry — if,  indeed,  it  be  worthy  of 
such  a  title.  He  reads  the  newspaper  but  little, 


296  Portuguese  Life 

— if  he  can  read  at  all, — which  is,  perhaps,  a  good 
thing  for  him,  and  he  is  generally  a  Republican. 
This  Republicanism  is  mostly  academic,  but  the 
"red"  type  is  not  wanting,  and  a  fiery  spirit 
might  be  roused  at  any  time,  with  consequences 
that  cannot  be  foreseen.  Of  course,  the  younger 
men  tinkle  the  guitar,  and  make  love  more  or  less 
openly  to  the  girls.  When  age  overtakes  a  man 
or  misfortune  overpowers  him,  there  is  no  poor 
law  to  take  him  in  charge,  but  there  are  extensive 
and  well-organised  charities  in  every  centre  which 
are  eager  and  willing  to  assist  those  who  are  tem- 
porarily afflicted,  and  to  afford  sustenance — a  bare 
sustenance,  perhaps — to  those  who  are  perma- 
nently disabled. 

The  amusements  of  the  town — the  theatre,  the 
concert,  and  the  opera — do  not  affect  the  work- 
man much;  his  budget  does  not  allow  of  such 
indulgence,  except  on  the  occasion  of  a  free  per- 
formance. Though  they  are  fairly  musical  and 
love  the  theatre,  the  Portuguese  have  no  really 
aesthetic  side  to  their  character.  There  is  a  queer 
song  and  dance,  topical  and  rather  broad,  the 
chida,  the  somewhat  monotonous  refrain  of  which 
is  to  be  heard  everywhere  and  at  all  hours,  and 
from  all  manners  of  lips.  The  washerwomen 
kneeling  by  the  brook  bang  the  unfortunate 
clothes  on  the  flat  stones  in  rhythm  with  the  tune, 
and  beguile  the  time  with  the  interminable  song. 
It  arises  in  unexpected  places,  and  is  a  fairly  sure 
item  in  the  gathering  of  the  younger  folk,  both  in 


Land  and  People 


297 


towns  and  villages,  in  the  cool  of  the  evening. 
Concerts  and  theatres  are  fairly  patronised  by  the 
more  moneyed  classes,  but  the  performances  are 
not,  as  a  rule,  of  a  very  high  calibre.  There  is  a 
subsidised  theatre  at  Lisbon,  but  it  does  little  to 
elevate  the  dramatic  art  elsewhere. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

PORTUGUESE   INSTITUTIONS 

THE  Portuguese  army  is  raised  by  conscrip- 
tion, each  parish,  according  to  size,  having 
to  contribute  an  annual  quota  of  young  men 
between  twenty  and  twenty-one  years  of  age. 
These  have  to  serve  three  consecutive  years  with 
the  colours,  and  then  pass  into  the  reserve  for 
another  ten  years.  During  the  latter  period  no 
conscript  can  leave  the  country  without  a  passport. 
In  time  of  peace  the  army  is  supposed  to  number 
about  thirty  thousand  men,  and  on  the  war  foot- 
ing should  consist  of  about  one  hundred  and 
twenty  thousand  men  and  two  hundred  and  sixty- 
four  guns.  The  men,  who  in  summer  wear  brown 
holland  clothes,  look  hardy  enough,  and,  accord- 
ing to  ordinary  report,  are  worthy  of  the  plucky 
ca$adores  of  the  Peninsular  War,  who,  according 
to  Napier,  made  most  excellent  soldiers  when 
properly  led.  It  is  still  said  of  the  Portuguese 
soldier  that  with  three  beans  in  his  pocket  he  can 
march  and  fight  for  a  week  without  making  any 
further  demands  upon  the  commissariat  depart- 
ment. This  military  service  does  not  affect  the 
298 


Portuguese  Institutions       299 

nation  much,  either  morally  or  physically,  and 
the  only  economical  effect  is  probably  that  it 
provides  a  fruitful  source  of  plunder  to  corrupt 
officials.  As  any  man  can  free  himself  of  the 
three  years'  service  with  the  colours  by  paying  a 
sum  of  about  ^24,  it  may  be  imagined  what  an 
opening  this  affords  for  special  peculation. 

The  navy  consists  of  about  five  thousand  men, 
and  of  a  few  modern  war-ships,  and  of  some  old 
boats  whose  seaworthiness  is  questionable.  The 
best  ship  at  present  on  the  list  is  the  cruiser  Dom 
Carlos,  which  was  sent  to  take  part  in  the  naval 
pageant  which  formed  the  first  portion  of  the 
funeral  of  Queen  Victoria.  The  sailors,  who  are 
much  to  be  seen  in  Lisbon,  where  the  great  naval 
barracks  are  situated,  look  smart  enough,  and  as 
the  Portuguese  have  always  been  good  sailors,  it 
may  safely  be  predicted  that,  in  case  of  necessity, 
they  will  make  the  most  of  the  limited  means  at 
their  disposal,  or  of  such  of  them  as  have  not 
been  utterly  ruined  by  official  indifference  or 
worse. 

In  the  towns  one  meets  men  in  various  employ- 
ments, such  as  the  police,  who  have  served  in  the 
army,  and  still  retain  some  sort  of  soldierly  ap- 
pearance, but  once  get  into  the  country,  and  it  is 
vain  to  look  for  any  evidence  of  military  service 
amongst  the  rural  population. 

The  country-folk  are  a  patient  lot;  most  of 
them  ruminants,  like  their  own  oxen.  Sleepy 
always,  and  slpw  in  their  movements,  they  are 


300  Portuguese  Life 

often  devoted  to  the  farm,  or  quinta,  on  which 
they  work,  and  are,  perhaps,  slightly  more  honest 
than  their  fellows  in  the  towns.  They  are  frugal 
enough,  and  enjoy  their  huge  junks  of  dark 
bread,  washed  down  with  water,  at  their  midday 
meal,  and  a  sound  sleep  under  the  shade  of  an 
orange  tree  or  a  eucalyptus,  or  a  bit  of  a  wall, 
until  it  is  necessary  to  begin  work  again.  The 
peasant  costumes  are  not  inviting ;  they  are  simply 
squalid.  Costumes  in  the  towns  are  much  better. 
Still,  on  festal  days  the  village  women  deck  them- 
selves out  with  bright-hued  shawls,  and  the  men 
wind  brighter  scarfs  round  their  waists  to  keep 
up  their  patchwork  trousers,  and  thus  relieve 
what  would  otherwise  be  the  intolerable  dinginess 
of  the  whole  scene.  The  farmer  himself,  mounted 
on  his  mule,  with  high-peaked  saddle  and  enor- 
mous wooden  stirrups  decorated  with  brass,  his 
cloak,  with  the  bright  scarlet  or  blue  lining  folded 
outwards,  strapped  on  in  front,  with  his  short 
jacket  and  broad-brimmed  hat,  offers  a  smart  and 
typical  figure. 

In  town  or  country,  the  beautiful  oxen  are 
worthy  of  admiration.  They  are  the  most  satis- 
factory of  all  the  rural  animals.  Horses,  shabby 
and  attenuated,  little  sheep  of  a  colour  from  black 
to  dirty  grey,  showing  affinity  to  goats,  and  hav- 
ing neither  the  grace  of  the  latter  nor  the  sleepy 
comeliness  of  our  own  sheep,  black  and  white 
cows  whose  points  would  not  be  much  thought  of 
by  judges  at  an  agricultural  show,  goats  of  all 


Portuguese  Institutions       301 

sorts  of  breeds,  and  finally  pigs  of  a  most  lanky 
and  uninviting  appearance,  form  the  stock  of  the 
farms.  Heaps  of  chickens  of  all  sorts  run  about 
everywhere,  and  enjoy  fine  dust-baths  by  the  side 
of  the  road. 

The  aspect  of  the  country  varies  much  between 
north  and  south.  In  the  former,  one  sees  real 
grass  and  hedges,  and  the  bright  flowers  that  are 
common  everywhere  look  all  the  better  for  their 
green  background.  The  commonest  hedge  in  the 
south,  and  occasionally  in  the  north,  is  made  of  a 
few  layers  of  stones  loosely  laid  together  with 
a  row  of  aloe  plants  on  the  top.  These  grow 
formidable  in  time,  with  huge  sharp-pointed 
leaves,  and  they  present  a  curious  appearance 
when  at  intervals  in  such  a  row  plants  send  up 
their  huge  flowering  stems  from  nine  to  twelve 
feet  high,  looking  at  a  little  distance  like  tele- 
graph poles. 

Despite  the  squalid  clothes  of  the  peasants, 
there  are  many  picturesque  aspects  of  rural  life. 
The  driving  of  large  herds  of  cattle  by  mounted 
men,  armed  with  long  goads,  is  an  interesting  as 
well  as  an  artistic  sight,  and  the  same  may  be  said 
of  the  primitive  agricultural  occupations.  The 
crops  are  harvested  with  a  sickle,  and  you  may 
wake  up  some  morning  to  see  the  field  opposite 
your  house  invaded  by  some  twenty  to  thirty 
reapers,  men  and  women,  boys  and  girls,  patiently 
sawing  their  way  through  the  wheat  or  barley,  or 
whatever  it  is,  The  corn  is  threshed  out  with  the 


302  Portuguese  Life 

flail,  or  trodden  out  by  the  oxen — all  operations 
fair  to  look  upon.  Forms  of  cultivation  interest- 
ing to  watch  are  the  very  primitive  ploughing, 
the  hoeing  of  the  maize,  and  all  those  connected 
with  the  culture  of  the  vines  and  the  orange  and 
other  fruit  trees,  and  especially  the  irrigation, 
which  is  so  important  to  these  latter.  In  fact, 
one  of  the  most  charming  of  rural  sights  is  the 
old  water-wheel,  groaning  and  creaking  as  it  is 
turned  by  the  patient  ox  or  mule  or  pony,  splash- 
ing the  cool  water  from  the  well  out  of  its  earthen 
pots — each  with  a  hole  in  the  bottom — and  dis- 
charging it  into  the  trough  leading  to  the  irriga- 
tion channels  or  to  the  reservoir  from  which  the 
water  may  afterwards  be  let  off  in  the  required 
direction. 

But  agriculture  is  not  always  so  backward  and 
primitive.  There  are  great  landowners  and  large 
farmers  who  use  the  newest  and  best  agricultural 
implements.  The  Government  does  what  it  can 
to  encourage  the  use  of  artificial  manures,  and 
there  are  societies  which  render  important  services 
to  agriculturists  and  to  fruit-growers.  Amid  such 
labours  live  the  quiet  country-folk.  They  have 
no  thought  of  anything;  they  have  no  special 
amusements  beyond  an  occasional  festa  and  a 
dance.  They  sit  round  the  village  well  in  the 
evening,  and  when  not  talking  scandal,  tell  stories 
about — "  Once  upon  a  time  there  was  a  poor 
widow  with  one  or  more  daughters, "  or  "  There 
was  once  a  king's  son" — often  a  Moorish  king. 


Portuguese  Institutions       303 

The  old  well-known  tales  reappear,  modified  to 
the  Portuguese  character  and  morality. 

The  following  is  a  story  taken  from  Braga's 
excellent  book:  "  There  was,  once  upon  a  time, 
a  poor  widow  that  had  only  one  daughter.  This 
girl,  going  out  to  bathe  in  the  river  with  her  com- 
panions on  St.  John's  eve,  at  the  advice  of  one  of 
her  friends,  placed  her  ear-rings  on  the  top  of  a 
stone,  lest  she  should  lose  them  in  the  water. 
While  she  was  playing  about  in  the  river  an  old 
man  passed  along,  who,  seeing  the  ear-rings,  took 
them  and  placed  them  in  a  leather  bag  he  was 
carrying.  The  poor  child  was  much  grieved  at 
this,  and  ran  after  the  old  man,  who  consented  to 
restore  her  belongings  if  she  would  search  for 
them  inside  his  sack.  This  the  girl  did,  and 
forthwith  the  artful  old  man  closed  the  mouth  of 
the  bag  and  carried  her  off  therein.  He  subse- 
quently told  her  that  she  must  help  him  to  gain 
a  living,  and  that  whenever  he  recited — 

'  Sing,  sack, 
Else  thou  wilt  be  beaten  with  a  stick  ! ' 

she  was  to  sing  lustily.  Wherever  they  came  he 
placed  his  sack  on  the  ground, and  addressed  the 
above  formula  to  it,  when  the  poor  girl  sang  as 
loud  as  she  could : 

'  I  am  placed  in  this  sack, 
Where  my  life  I  shall  lose,' 
For  love  of  my  ear-rings, 
Which  I  left  in  the  stream.' 


304  Portuguese  Life 

The  old  man  obtained  much  money  from  the  audi- 
ences attracted  by  his  singing  leather  bag.  The 
authorities  of  one  town,  however,  became  sus- 
picious, and,  examining  the  sack  while  its  owner 
was  asleep,  found  and  released  the  child.  They 
filled  up  the  bag  with  all  the  filth  they  could  pick 
up,  and  left  it  where  they  had  found  it.  The 
little  girl  was  sent  back  to  her  mother.  When 
the  old  man  woke  next  morning,  and  took  out  the 
sack  to  earn  his  breakfast,  the  usual  incantation 
had  no  effect,  and  when  he  applied  the  threatened 
stick  the  bag  burst,  and  all  the  filth  came  out, 
which  he  was  compelled  to  lick  up  by  the  enraged 
populace. ' '  At  the  close  of  the  story  the  cigarettes 
glow,  the  white  teeth  gleam,  the  bushy  whiskers 
wag,  the  old  women  chuckle,  the  girls  giggle,  and 
the  youths  snigger,  and  as  the  short  twilight  is 
now  over,  the  group  breaks  up,  and  each  vanishes 
into  his  or  her  own  vermin-pasture  to  sleep  until 
amanha  has  actually  become  to-day,  and  the  sun 
shines  on  another  exact  repetition  of  yesterday. 

The  Portuguese  are  superstitious,  and  are  de- 
vout up  to  a  certain  point,  and  the  clerics  are 
exceedingly  intolerant.  In  the  morning  one 
sees,  as  in  all  Roman  Catholic  countries,  devout 
worshippers  kneeling  about  in  the  churches  before 
their  favourite  shrines,  but,  unlike  the  practice  of 
most  Roman  Catholic  countries,  the  churches  are 
closed  at  or  about  noon  for  the  most  part,  and  are 
only  open  for  special  masses  after  that  time.  The 
procession  of  the  Host  is  greeted  with  most 


Portuguese  Institutions       305 

extreme  reverence,  and  whether  it  be  in  the  fash- 
ionable Chiado  at  Lisbon  or  along  a  country  lane, 
all  uncover  and  make  the  sign  of  the  cross,  and 
many,  even  fashionably  dressed  ladies  and  gentle- 
men, kneel  down  and  bow  themselves  humbly  as 
the  sacred  wafer  passes  by, borne  by  the  gorgeously 
vested  priest;  at  least,  in  the  cities  the  vestments 
are  gorgeous,  and  a  long  train  of  acolytes  and 
attendants  makes  the  procession  imposing,  but  in 
the  country  the  vestments  are  often  mildewed 
and  decayed,  and  the  one  or  two  rustic  attendants 
are  not  dignified  in  appearance.  Still,  the  sacred 
symbol  is  the  same,  and  the  reverence  and  the 
devotion  are  the  same. 

There  is  an  excessive  hierarchy  for  the  size  of 
the  country,  there  being  in  Portugal  proper  three 
ecclesiastical  provinces,  ruled  respectively  by  the 
Patriarch  of  Lisbon  and  by  the  Archbishops  of 
Braga  and  Evora.  Besides  these,  there  is  the 
colonial  province  which  is  ruled  by  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Goa.  Archpriests  and  other  dignitaries 
abound,  so  that  a  priest  has  something  to  look 
forward  to  in  the  way  of  promotion ;  and  yet,  as  a 
rule,  the  priests  perform  their  duties  without  zeal 
and  in  a  slovenly  manner.  One  often  hears  it 
said  that  their  behaviour  and  their  morality  leave 
much  to  be  desired.  There  are  among  them 
gentlemen  of  blameless  life  and  even  of  ascetic 
practices,  but  it  is  commonly  reported  that,  as  a 
whole,  they  are  of  inferior  birth  and  education. 
It  is  not  easy  for  a  stranger  to  form  any  opinion 


306  Portuguese  Life 

on  these  points,  but  it  must  be  conceded  that 
their  appearance  is  generally  suggestive  of  the 
truth  of  the  statement,  and  it  may  be  admitted 
that  there  is  an  undue  proportion  of  ignoble  and 
sensuous  faces  amongst  them. 

Funerals  are  occasions  of  great  pomp,  and  are 
often  picturesque  enough,  while  the  masses  for 
the  dead  at  intervals  after  and  on  the  anniversary 
are,  no  doubt,  profitable  to  the  Church.  By  at- 
tending these  one  has  a  good  opportunity  of 
testifying  to  the  esteem  in  which  the  deceased  was 
held,  or  to  one's  good  will  towards  the  family  or 
representatives.  These  masses  are  generally  ad- 
vertised in  the  papers,  with  thanks  to  those 
friends  who  have  attended  funeral  masses.  As 
there  is  scarcely  any  intellectual  activity  in  Portu- 
gal, there  is  practically  no  religious  thought.  A 
dull  acquiescence  in  the  dictates  of  the  Church 
may  be  crossed  by  an  occasional  gleam  of  rebellion 
against  sacerdotalism,  roused  by  some  temporary 
stirring  up  of  the  hatred  felt  against  the  Jesuits. 
But  it  in  no  way  alters  the  habitual  attitude  of  the 
people  towards  religion  and  its  outward  mani- 
festations. One  thing  is  certain,  and  that  is  that 
in  town  or  country  a  man  or  a  woman  must  be  in 
the  lowest  depths  of  poverty  and  distress  to  refuse 
to  throw  a  few  reis  into  the  bags  of  the  licensed 
mendicants  who,  bareheaded,  and  clad  in  scarlet 
or  white  gowns,  go  round  soliciting  alms  for  the 
support  of  the  churches  on  whose  behalf  they  are 
sent  out. 


Portuguese  Institutions       307 

As  is  customary  in  most  countries,  the  women 
are  more  amenable  to  religious  influences  than  the 
men,  and  are  more  under  the  dominion  of  the 
priest.  This  is  not  likely  to  be  altered  yet  awhile, 
for,  under  the  present  system  of  education  and 
bringing  up,  the  female  portion  of  the  community 
is  not  only  not  intellectual,  but  may  even  be  de- 
scribed as  being  unintelligent.  They  are  slovenly, 
and  cannot  be  described  as  good  housewives. 
They  are  pleasure-loving  and  garrulous,  though 
this  latter  trait  is  not,  I  suppose,  a  specially 
national  characteristic.  They  do  much  hard 
work,  especially  in  the  fields.  In  the  classes 
above  (if  above  be  the  proper  word)  the  hand- 
workers, the  young  girls  are  still  kept  very 
strictly,  and  are  not  allowed  to  go  out  alone. 
Their  knowledge  of  life  is  limited  to  the  view 
from  the  windows  of  their  homes,  where  they 
may  be  seen  looking  out  on  the  street  scenes 
below  whenever  the  shade  allows  them  to  stand 
at  the  window  or  on  the  balcony.  No  "new 
woman"  movement  of  any  importance  has  yet 
taken  place,  and  though  there  are  modifications 
in  woman's  position  in  the  national  life,  it  is 
probable  that  it  will  take  one  if  not  more  genera- 
tions before  women  in  Portugal  achieve  the  eman- 
cipation which  their  sisters  have  attained  in  more 
progressive  countries. 

In  one  circumstance,  however,  woman  does 
take  her  place  by  the  side  of  man,  and  that  is  in 
the  bull-ring — pot,  indeed,  in  the  arena,  but  in 


308  Portuguese  Life 

every  part  of  the  amphitheatre,  from  the  worst 
seats  on  the  sunny  side  to  the  costly  boxes  in  the 
shade.  She  takes  as  great  an  interest  in  the  bull- 
right  as  the  man,  and  if  she  does  not  shout  and 
swear,  or  fling  her  hat  into  the  ring  in  her  enthu- 
siasm, she  delights  probably  more  than  the  man  in 
the  beauty  of  the  spectacle,  and  appreciates  almost 
as  fully  the  feats  of  skill  and  daring  which  give 
such  special  attraction  to  the  national  pastime. 
This  is  a  right  royal  sport,  and  as  in  Portugal  the 
horrid  cruelty  which  defaces  it  in  Spain  is  absent, 
there  is  no  overwhelming  reason  why  the  women 
should  not  sit  and  applaud  the  picturesque  scene 
and  the  exhibitions  of  pluck  and  agility  shown  by 
the  performers. 

The  scene  is  really  magnificent,  and  the  en- 
thusiasm of  the  audience  must  be  witnessed  in 
order  to  understand  the  underlying  potentialities 
of  the  Portuguese  character.  The  vile  abuse  of  a 
bull  who  will  not  show  fight  is  comical  to  listen 
to.  Probably,  in  such  a  case,  the  bull  has  been 
through  it  all  before,  and  he  does  not  care  to 
make  wild  rushes  at  cloaks  which  have  nothing 
substantial  behind  them.  So  he  paws  up  the 
sand  and  looks  theatrical,  but  refuses  to  budge. 
Then  a  nimble  bandarilhero  faces  him,  and  fixes  a 
pair  of  bandarilhas  in  his  neck — one  on  each  side 
if  he  can  manage  it.  This  is  unpleasant,  no 
doubt,  but  the  bull's  former  experience  tells  him 
that  it  is  not  serious,  and  not  even  very  painful. 
Jt  was  irritating  the  first  time,  but  no  well-bred 


Portuguese  Institutions       309 

bull  should  condescend  to  be  upset  by  such  a 
trifle.  Another  pair  of  bandarilhas,  and  yet 
another,  are  fixed  into  his  shoulders  by  their 
barbed  points — or  the  attempt  is  made  to  fix 
them.  Then  the  bull  begins  to  play  the  game  in 
a  condescending  sort  of  way.  Then  the  great 
man,  the  espada  himself,  comes  on  the  scene,  and 
arranges  and  waves  his  scarlet  flag,  and  walks  up 
to  the  obstinate  animal,  perhaps  flicks  him  in  the 
nostrils  with  his  pocket-handkerchief  and  calls 
him  vacca  (cow) !  At  last,  seemingly  out  of  good 
nature,  the  bull  rushes  at  the  red  flag,  has  the 
highly  decorated  dart  stuck  between  his  shoulders, 
by  the  daring  espada  who  may  perform  some  other 
feat,  listens  to  the  applause,  and  laughs  to  himself 
when  he  hears  the  bugle-call  and  sees  the  trained 
oxen  rush  in  with  their  long  bells  and  their  at- 
tendant herdsmen,  and  with  more  or  less  of  a 
frolicsome  air  he  trots  out  of  the  arena  in  their  com- 
pany and,  having  had  his  sore  shoulders  attended 
to,  and  having  had  a  good  feed,  chews  the  cud 
with  a  pleasant  reminiscence  of  the  afternoon's 
work.  It  is  a  mistake  not  to  kill  the  bull,  which 
is  not  cruel  in  itself,  but  which  would  prevent 
some  rather  tiresome  interludes  when  a  knowing 
old  bull  refuses  to  be  coaxed  into  playing  his  part 
of  the  game. 

Far  different,  however,  is  the  scene  when  a 
really  spirited  bull  comes  in  with  a  rush  and 
charges  wildly  at  the  brightly  attired  performers, 
and  makes  them  skip  over  the  barrier,  often 


310  Portuguese  Life 

leaving  their  cloaks  behind  them.  Sometimes 
the  bull  skips  over  too,  and  then  there  is  a  most 
amusing  scene,  as  performers,  attendants,  and  all 
vault  back  over  the  barrier  into  the  ring  itself. 
When  the  espada  finally  performs  his  courageous 
feat  under  such  conditions,  he  obtains  such  an 
ovation  as  his  skill  deserves.  Hats  of  all  sorts 
and  shapes  are  cast  to  him  in  the  arena,  which 
he  has  to  pick  up  and  throw  or  hand  back  to  the 
admirers  who  testify  their  satisfaction  in  this 
curious  manner.  Cigars,  also,  are  thrown  at  the 
successful  bull-fighter's  feet,  and  these  he  keeps. 
The  most  famous  espadas  are  all  Spaniards,  and 
they  all  wear  the  traditional  dress  of  their  calling. 
If,  on  the  one  hand,  there  is  not  the  thrill  of  the 
actual  killing  of  the  bull,  on  the  other  there  are 
no  miserable  old  horses  to  be  ripped  up,  and  no 
smell  of  blood.  Next  to  the  actual  bull-fights 
come  the  selections  of  the  young  bulls  from  the 
herds,  when  the  members  of  the  Tauromachian 
Societies  exhibit  their  skill,  and  where  many  a 
gay  young  fellow  gets  much  knocked  about  in 
exhibiting  his  agility  or  the  want  of  it. 

Other  sports  cannot  be  said  to  have  any  marked 
existence.  Dancing  is  a  national  amusement, 
and  a  few  of  the  Anglicised  Portuguese  go  in  for 
cricket  and  lawn-tennis.  Cycling,  though  not 
unknown,  is  far  from  common,  the  roads  being, 
as  a  rule,  much  too  bad  for  comfortable  or  even 
for  safe  riding. 

and  provincial  government  leaves  much 


Portuguese  Institutions       311 

to  be  desired  in  Portugal.  The  keeping  up  of  the 
roads  is  inconceivably  bad.  A  royal  road  (estrada 
real}  is  generally  the  worst  of  all,  and,  with  such 
an  example  before  them,  it  is  not  to  be  wondered 
at  that  local  authorities  neglect  their  duties  in 
this  matter. 

' '  No  capital  city  in  Europe  suffers  so  much  as 
Lisbon  from  the  want  of  good  police  regulations." 
This  quotation  from  Napier  might  very  well  be 
written  to-day,  and  extended  to  include  all  Por- 
tuguese towns.  Perhaps  it  is  fair  to  say  that  it  is 
not  so  much  the  regulations  that  are  at  fault  as 
the  incompetence  and  indifference  of  each  local 
authority,  which  irresistibly  suggest  that  corrup- 
tion alone  can  account  for  such  a  mass  of  evil. 
The  administrative  machine  is  elaborate,  and 
ought  to  be  more  effective.  First,  there  is  the 
district,  ruled  by  the  Civil  Governor,  an  officer 
somewhat  resembling  a  French  prefect,  with  its 
corporate  body  known  as  the  District  Commis- 
sion. There  are  seventeen  districts,  which  are 
subdivided  into  two  hundred  and  sixty-two  com- 
munes. The  head  of  a  commune  is  the  Admin- 
istrator, and  the  corporation  is  known  as  the 
Municipal  Chamber.  The  last  subdivision  is  that 
of  the  communes  into  parishes,  of  which  there 
are  three  thousand  seven  hundred  and  thirty-five. 
Each  of  these  has  as  its  head  an  officer  called  a 
regedor,  and  occupies  the  attention  of  a  junta  de 
/.arochia,  or  parish  council. 

The  scavenging,  sanitation,  watering,  paving, 


312  Portuguese  Life 

and  all  the  other  works  which  fall  within  the 
sphere  of  the  municipality  or  local  authority  are 
defective  and  neglected.  The  one  bright  point, 
both  in  Oporto  and  Lisbon,  is  the  care,  skill,  and 
attention  with  which  the  public  gardens  and 
squares  are  tended.  The  palms,  tree-ferns,  cacti, 
and  other  semi-tropical  and  sub-tropical  plants 
are  beautiful  in  themselves,  and  are  arranged  and 
intermingled  with  other  trees  and  shrubs  in  a 
most  artistic  manner.  The  grass  (upon  which  no 
one,  of  course,  may  walk)  is  kept  green  by  con- 
stant watering,  and  affords  a  delightful  contrast 
to  the  generally  dry  and  dusty  aspect  of  the  city. 
Another  organisation  which  is  generally  efficient 
and  well  conducted  is  that  of  the  fire  brigades. 
The  municipal  firemen — the  bombeiros — are  often 
stimulated  by  a  healthy  rivalry  with  the  volun- 
teer brigades,  which  are  numerous,  well  found, 
and,  as  a  rule,  well  managed.  The  latter  are 
often  centres  of  good  charitable  work  outside 
their  actual  fire  service,  and  they  are  valuable 
as  offering  a  fair  and  worthy  opportunity  for  the 
display  of  sound  public  spirit  and  good  feeling. 

Though  Portuguese  laws  are,  as  a  rule,  admi- 
rable in  themselves,  the  administration  thereof  is 
bad  in  the  extreme,  and  the  judiciary  have  a 
reputation  for  turpitude  remarkable  even  amongst 
the  recognised  corruption  of  all  officials.  In  Por- 
tugal proper  there  are  two  judicial  districts — that 
of  I^isbon  and  that  of  Oporto.  Each  has  a  high 
court  known  as  a  Rela$ao,  and  there  are  inferior 


Portuguese  Institutions       313 

courts  of  various  styles  and  titles.  Above  all  is 
the  Supreme  Tribunal  of  Justice  at  Lisbon,  which 
is  the  final  court  of  appeal,  and  the  reputation  of 
which  is  somewhat  better  than  that  of  any  other 
tribunal.  The  administration  of  criminal  justice 
is  naturally  amongst  the  worst.  According  to 
common  repute,  the  only  consideration  with  the 
judges  is  how  they  are  to  get  the  costs  paid — 
whether  they  are  more  likely  to  obtain  them 
through  an  acquittal,  which  throws  them  on  the 
prosecutor,  or  by  a  conviction.  Also,  it  is  gener- 
ally said  that  the  police  themselves  are  recruited 
from  amongst  the  very  lowest  classes. 

The  prisons  are  described  as  being  something 
awful,  only  to  be  equalled  in  Morocco  and  savage 
countries.  In  the  market-place  of  beautiful  Cintra 
stands  the  prison,  against  the  barred  windows  of 
which  crowd  the  prisoners,  begging  for  money, 
cigarettes,  and  food,  which  are  supplied  to  them 
through  the  prison  bars  by  their  friends  and  sym- 
pathisers, and  by  soft-hearted  people.  Those 
who  are  incarcerated  in  the  upper  story  have 
baskets,  which  they  lower  by  means  of  strings, 
so  that  they  may  be  supplied  in  the  same  manner. 
This  seems  to  have  amused  Miss  Leek  {Iberian 
Sketches,  Chap.  VI.),  but  it  assumes  a  much  more 
serious  aspect  when  one  considers  that  in  those 
filthy  dens  all  the  prisoners  are  huddled  together 
— old  men  and  boys,  the  murderer  arid  the  petty 
thief,  habitual  criminals  and  unfortunate  persons 
taken  into  custody  on  mere  suspicion,  or  charged 


3  H  Portuguese  Life 

with  an  alleged  breach  of  some  police  or  even  rail- 
way regulation ;  for  it  must  be  remembered  that  a 
station-master  has  nearly  the  same  power  as  a 
policeman  in  taking  a  person  into  custody.  ' '  No 
one  shall  be  put  in  prison,"  says  the  Portuguese 
code,  ' '  except  under  special  circumstances ' ' ;  but 
when  the  exceptions  are  considered,  they  are 
found  to  cover  nearly  every  abuse  of  authority  on 
the  part  of  the  pettiest  official  which  can  be  con- 
ceived. Hence,  all  persons  are  obliged  to  submit 
to  gross  injustice  and  to  a  certain  amount  of 
blackmail  if  they  wish  to  avoid  the  noisome  ex- 
periences of  a  Portuguese  gaol. 

The  Portuguese  must  be  undoubtedly  "  of  a 
docile  and  orderly  disposition,"  as  Napier  says, 
or  the  crying  injustices  to  which  they  submit  with 
such  patience  would  lead  them  to  revolt;  and  if 
this  were  to  happen,  who  could  attempt  to  predict 
what  excesses  would  be  left  uncommitted  by  a 
violent  southron  mob  whose  passions  had  been 
roused  to  such  a  pitch  of  activity  ?  Perhaps  paci- 
encia  and  amanha  have  their  utility,  and  enable 
the  people  to  bear  the  ills  they  have.  They  can 
even  joke  and  caricature  themselves,  and  though 
the  comic  journals  are  neither  brilliant  nor  artistic, 
they  show,  at  least,  that  a  sense  of  humour  is  still 
left  in  our  L,usitanian  friends. 


INDEX 

ACADEMIES,  238,  243 

Actors,  242 

Agriculture,  167  etseq. 

Alfonso  XII.,  28,  104,  144,  268,  273 

Alfonso  XIII.,  98,  272 

Amadeo,  King,  143 

American  War,  192  et  seq. 

Amusements,  HI  el  seq. 

Andaluces,  33 

Andalucia,  33 

Apostolic  party,  9 

Aragon,  29 

Army,  183  et  seq. 

Art,  236  et  seq. 

Artillery,  187 

Artistic  furniture,  176 

Arts  and  crafts,  175,  176 

Asturian  nurses,  27 

Asturias,  26 

Asturias,  Princess  of,  103,  219 

Austrian  kings,  15,  21,  22 

Autos-da-fe,  18,  200,  201 

BANK  of  Spain,  265 

Barcelona,  266 

Basque  Provinces,  26,  27,  188 

Basques,  28 

Beggars,  226 

Berwick  y  Alva,  Duke  of,  184 

315 


316  Index 

Bilbao,  II,  161,  177,  178,  266 

Boletin  de  la  Camara  de  Comerdo,  163,  265 

Bueyes,  28 

Bull-fighters,  126  et  sey. 

Bulls,  95  et  seq. 

Bureaucracy,  148,  156 

CABESTROS,  95 

Caciqueism,  145,  148^/5^. 

Caesars,  Spanish,  n,  12 

Camarilla,  6 

Campoamor,  61 

Cduovas  del  Castillo,  136 

Capital,  174,  175 

Carlos,  Don,  7,  9,  10 

Carriages,  88-90 

Casa  de  Campo,  84,  85 

Castelar,  139  et  seq. 

Caslellano,  266 

Castile,  31 

Castilians,  n,  25,  32 

Catalans,  25 

Ca-taluna,  17,  175,  266 

Cats,  79  et  seq. 

Cervantes,  47,  48 

Cervera,  Admiral,  47,  190,  193 

Cesantes,  145-147 

Characteristics,  38  et  seq.,  260 

Charitable  institutions,  227 

Charles  III.,  22 

Charles  V.,  14 

Children,  233 

Church,  the,  9,  199 

Cigar  industry,  177 

Clerical  question,  21,  221,  272 

Climate  of  Madrid,  65  et  seq. 


Index  317 


Climates  of  Spain,  167,  170 
Cock-fighting,  112 
Colonies,  147 
Commerce,  156  et  seq. 
Concas  Palan,  190 
Confessional,  218,  222,  223 
Conscription,  188 
Constitution,  154 
Consumption,  67,  68 
Costume,  national,  78,  79 
Courage,  42  et  seq. 
Court,  97  et  seq. 
Cristina,  Queen,  9,  98 
Cuba,  147,  195 

DANCE  and  song,  113  et  seq. 
Dances,  modern,  58,  59 
Dances,  national,  112  et  seq. 
Dances,  religious,  208 
Daoiz  y  Valarde,  46 
Democratic  feeling,  6,  39 
Dignity,  38 
Donkeys,  90,  92 
Dos  de  Mayo,  45 
Drama,  modern,  209,  240  et  seq, 
Dramas,  religious,  209-212 
Dress  of  Spanish  women ,  62 

ECHEGARAY,  241 

Education,  159,  213 
Electra,  219,  242 
Electrical  science,  214 
Elephant  and  bull,  126 
Emperors,  Roman,  12 
Emplcomania,  145,  146,  152 
Engineers,  214 


3r8  Index 

Espinosa,  Monteros  de,  102 
Estremadura,  32 

Etiquette  of  Spanish  Court,  100  et  seq, 
Exports,  177 

FACTORIES,  175,  176,  266 

Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  5,  13,  15 

Ferdinand  VII.,  8,  22 

Feria  of  Seville,  34 

Fertility  of  soil,  73 

Fiestas,  116,  206 

Flowers,  73 

Folklore,  253  et  seq. 

Ford,  51 

French  influence,  173 

Fueute  Castellana,  78 

Fueros,  10,  28,  188 

Fueros  of  Aragon,  29 

GAI,A  procession,  108,  109 
Gald6s,  219,  248 
.  Galicia,  25,  26 
Gallegos,  26,  87 
Games,  national,  in 
Gayangos,  246 
Geographical  features,  178 
Gloriosa,  I/a,  10,  262 
Goths,  12,  24 
Government,  142  et  seq. 
Government,  local,  153 
Grandes  of  Spain,  100 
Guitar,  113,  238 

HIPPODROME,  62 
Horse-racing,  125 
Horses,  91  et  seq. 


Index  319 


IBERIAN  rejon,  118 

Iberian  unity,  251 

Iiicas,  1 8 

Independence,  War  of,  45 

Industries,  161,  263  et  seq. 

Infantas,  54,  103,  106 

Influence  of  the  Press,  129 

Inquisition,  19,  199,  200,  271 

Irrigated  land,  172 

Irrigation,  171  et  seq. 

Isabel  II.,  6,  53,  107,  207 

Isabel  la  Cat61ica,  5,  8,  15,  29,  270 

JAIME,  DON,  8 

Jota  Aragonesa,  114 

Jesuits,  199,  213,  217,  218,  220  et  seq.,  272 

Journalists,  130 

KING  ALFONSO  XIII.,  272,  273 
Kings,  Austrian,  21,  22 
Kings,  Bourbon,  8,  22,  118 

LABOUR,  174 

Lace,  165 

Lagartijo,  122  et  seq. 

Land  and  people,  I 

Land  laws,  173 

Landscape  round  Madrid,  71,  72 

Land  value,  172 

Language,  266  et  seq. 

Literature,  modern,  246  et  seq. 

MADRAZO,  239,  244 
Madrid,  modern,  77 
Madrid,  old,  77 
Manana,  52,  74,  195,  197 
Manners,  40 


320  Index 

Mantilla,  79 

Manufactures,  164,  165,  175  et  seq. 

Manzanares,  83 

Marriage  customs,  229  et  seq. 

Medical  science,  215 

Meetings,  political,  138    . 

Mendizabal,  9,  23 

Metal  work,  176 

Military  system,  183  et  seq. 

Mineral  wealth,  160  et  seq. 

Montpensier,  Duke  of,  104  etseq. 

Moors,  17  et  seq. 

Mules,  90,  188,  255 

Music,  81,  236 

NARVAEZ,  249 

National  feeling,  184,  185,  193 

National  games,  31 

Navy,  47,  \%f)  etseq. 

Newspapers,  132  et  seq. 

Nicknames,  106 

Noche  Buena,  108 

ORDERS,  religious,  203,  213,  219,  221,  272 
Ostriches,  85 
Outlook,  260  et  seq. 
Oxen,  draught,  94 

PACING  horses,  90 
Painters,  239  et  seq. 
Palace  Royal,  61 
Palacio,  23 
Pardo  Bazan,  251 
Pardo,  el,  85 
Parque  de  Madrid,  71 
Pasos,  210 
Passion  plays,  209,  212 


Index  321 


Pavia,  140 

Pav o,  pelando  el,  230 

Peasants,  24  et  seq. 

Pelayo,  61 

Pelota,  31,  nt 

People,  38  et  seq. 

Philip  II.,  16,  202,  271 

Pigs,  166,  167 

Poetry,  114,  268 

Politeness,  national,  39,  40,  51,  52 

Political  parties,  7,  134  et  seq. 

Politicians,  50,  135 

Polios  and  pollas,  88,  89 

Ports  and  harbours,  178 

Pottery,  175,  176 

Poverty,  226 

Press,  129^  seq. 

Priesthood,  199,  218 

Prim,  142-144 

Procrastination,  52 

Productive  land,  172 

Pronunciamientos,  144,  145,  147,  186 

Protestants,  216 

Pyrenees,  25,  30 

QUEEN  CRISTINA,  97,  98, 103 
Queen  Mercedes,  97,  106 
Quemadero,  20,  201 
Quijote,  Don,  48 
Quixotic  characteristics,  48 

RACE,  24 

Railways,  157  et  seq. 
Regent,  9,  98,  145 
Religion,  37,  109,  198  e  seq. 
Republic,  139,  141 
Restoration,  144 


322  Index 

Revolution,  10,  262 

Rice,  161 

Riding,  89 

Roads,  1 80 

Roman  Spain,  n,  12 

Romero  Robledo,  136,  137 

SAGASTA,  151 

Sala,  33 

Salic  Law,  8,  9 

Schools,  159,  160 

Seises,  los,  208,  209 

Sericulture,  164 

Serrano,  105 

Sheep,  merino,  32,  166 

Shipping,  178 

Silk  manufactures,  16,  164 

Silvela,  151 

Smoking,  36,  60 

Society,  55  et  seq. 

Songs,  33,  81,  82,  114,  238 

Songs  and  dancing,  114 

Spanish- American  War,  i,  192  et  seq. 

Sugar  industry,  168 

Superstitions  popular,  102,  205,  233 

TEATRO  REAI,,  62 
Telegraphic  system,  181 
Terror  of  1824,  22 
Tertulia,  56  et  seq. 
Theatres,  62,  116 
Tobacco,  177 
Toledo,  15 
Toothpicks,  63 
Toreros,  121 
Tribunal  de  las  Aguas,  34 


Index  323 


UNIVERSITIES,  159 
Usted,  de,  98 

VALENCIA,  34 
Valera,  Juan,  61 
Vclo,  79 

Verse-making,  257 
Virgin,  37,  203 

WAR  of  Independence,  45  etseq. 

War,  Spanish-American,  i,  192  et  seq. 

Wars,  Carlist,  9 

Water,  want  of,  169 

Wellington,  Duke  of,  26 

Weyler,  General,  186 

Wines,  162  et  seq. 

Women,  53,  62,  229  et  seq.,  249 

Wood-carving,  176 

Woollen  manufactures,  164 

Working  men,  21, .83,  241,  261 

ZARZUELA,  116 
Zorilla,  122,  252 
Zortico  zorisco,  115 

PORTUGUESE  UPS 

AGRICULTURE,  301,  302 
Aloes,  301 
Amanha,  280 
Amusements,  296,  302 
Army,  298 
Artisan  class,  292 

BACALHAO,  294 
Bargaining,  love  of,  287 
Brazilian  elements,  287-291 
Bull-fighting,  307  et  seq. 


324  Index 

CAMOBNS,  281 

Characteristics,  278  et  se<?.,  284,  285 

Charities,  296 

Chula,  296 

Cleanliness,  289 

Coimbra,  283 

Costumes,  285,  300 

Customs,  285 

DANCES,  296 

Decorations  and  forms  of  address,  289 

FISH,  294 
Fish-girls,  293 
Funerals,  306 

GAUJSGOS,  292 
Gallenga,  293 
Government,  local,  310 

INSECTS,  290 
Institutions,  298 
Intellectual  life,  281 

LAND  and  people,  277 
Language,  283 
Laws,  312 
Lisbon,  281 
Londonderry,  Lord,  277 

MANNERS  and  morality,  289 
Medical  training,  288 
Military  system,  298 
Mineral  wealth,  281 
Moustachios,  ladies',  286 

NATIONAL  fare,  294 


Index  325 


Navy,  299 
Newspapers,  284 

OCTROI  duties,  295 
Oporto,  293 
Oxen,  300 

PENINSULAR  War,  277 
Police,  311 
Postal  service,  284 
Prisons,  313 

RELIGION,  304,  305  et  seq. 

SCENERY,  285 
Servants,  290 
Society,  286 

UNIVERSITY,  283 

WAGES,  292 
Wealth,  292 
Wealth,  mineral,  281 
Women,  285,  287,  307 


END 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 


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